


Blood Talk

by jokheiz



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Explicit Sexual Content, Human Johnny, M/M, Minor Violence, References to Drugs, Slow Burn, Swearing, vampire jaehyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2019-08-10 21:13:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16462442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jokheiz/pseuds/jokheiz
Summary: “Maybe you should try making friends this time.”“What’s the point Sicheng?” Jaehyun sighed. “They’re all going to die before we do anyway.”This was Jaehyun's third time going to college and completing another degree. He knew the drill. Humans were only temporary. When the tall boy with the long neck and a seemingly unwavering determination to be friendly sits next to the vampire in class, Jaehyun finds all his principles shaken.





	1. I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna write a oneshot I said. Something cute for Halloween. Then Jaehyun the vampire laughed in my face. Anyways, happy halloween!!
> 
>  
> 
> TW for the first chapter: college party, alcohol, drugs, drugging someone, spiked drink (just so nobody gets too surprised)

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

Sicheng glared at the backpack being held out to him.

“Oh, come on,” Jaehyun whined. “It’ll be fun. Don’t you think we should be around people our age?”

Sicheng scoffed and snatched the backpack out of his friend’s hand, clearly annoyed. “I highly doubt we’ll meet anyone else who’s over three hundred years old.”

Jaehyun grinned, satisfied that he’d gotten through to his friend. In one week’s time they’d both be heading to their first day of classes, ready to start their first year of college.

Only this wasn’t Jaehyun’s first time doing this, it was actually his third. After having completed two other degrees, one in philosophy and the other in civil engineering, he was ready to return to school to complete a neuroscience degree.

While the life of an immortal vampire may be boring to some, Jaehyun made sure to fill it with as many interesting things as possible. The more the human race advanced, the more eager Jaehyun was to learn. He had already planned several years ahead, hoping his next degree would involve artificial intelligence.

When he was younger he’d never dreamed any of the things that existed in the present day could be possible. While some view vampirism as a curse, Jaehyun preferred to try and see it mainly as a blessing. He was just happy he got to see so many things he otherwise wouldn’t have.

“Are you actually going to make friends this time?” For Sicheng, this was his first time at college, though he was almost as old as Jaehyun. He didn’t really understand, seeing as every few years they’d have to relocate and change their names anyway, why would he want to get a degree in a name he couldn’t use anymore? Though he said he did often enjoy Jaehyun’s college stories whenever he’d come home with them.

“Of course not. I’m there to study, not make friends.” Jaehyun shrugged, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “Like you said, I highly doubt we’ll meet anyone our age.”

Jaehyun put a hand on the front door, about to leave when he realized Sicheng had not followed him. He turned around to find his friend watching him, a mysterious look on his face.

“Maybe you should try making friends this time.”

“What’s the point Sicheng?” Jaehyun sighed. “They’re all going to die before we do anyway.” One of the not-so-great perks of being a vampire. “Now come on. They say orientation is ‘mandatory’ but we can just ditch and explore the campus. I’ve done this enough to know.”

Sicheng rolled his eyes, finally giving in and heaving the backpack onto his back. “Fine. But I’m inviting Yuta and Taeil. Just because I’m your only friend doesn’t mean you get to subject me to your self-imposed loneliness.”

“Yuta doesn’t count, he’s your drinking buddy.” Jaehyun pointed out. About 150 years earlier, Yuta had joined Sicheng and Jaehyun in their little world of ‘undead’, though there’d always been a lot more going on between Yuta and Sicheng than they’d tried to let on.

“Taeil?”

“ _He’s_ the drink.”

“Whatever. I still have more friends than you.”

“I wasn’t going to argue with you on that one.”

  
  


 

After Sicheng refused to be at class twenty minutes early, Jaehyun had gotten him to agree to be there ten minutes before instead.

Jaehyun clicked his pen, annoyed. Five minutes until class started, and the seat beside him was still empty. He thought after almost 300 years of being friends they’d gotten past this, but apparently they hadn’t.

The professor was setting up their slideshow. NEUR1001 displayed on the screen as several students spilled into the classroom, none of them being Sicheng.

Two minutes until class started. _Click_ . Jaehyun glared at the entrance, waiting for even just a glimpse of his supposed friend. _Click_. One minute.

The door opened again, and several more students arrived. Still no Sicheng. Jaehyun couldn’t even give an excuse to protest when a student slipped into the seat beside him, the one that had been for Sicheng.

Jaehyun hadn’t even bothered to glance at the student beside him, he just angrily clicked his pen once more as he watched Sicheng finally enter the classroom, Yuta right behind him. Jaehyun’s gaze followed them finding seats on the opposite side of the room, Sicheng catching his eye and giving him a curt and apologetic wave before sitting down.

“Hi.”

It took Jaehyun a moment to register that he had been spoken to by the student beside him. A young male, tall, with a long neck and a steady beating heart.

Too angry about Sicheng’s tardiness, Jaehyun simply glanced at the boy before clicking his pen once more, turning to his notebook and writing the date in the upper right corner. The professor cleared her throat, introducing herself as Kang Seulgi and she started her class before the boy could say anything more.

Jaehyun could hear the boy’s pulse quicken. He sighed, he must have made him nervous. He hadn’t meant to be rude, not really, but when your best friend is still late after 300 years it would make anyone exasperated. He decided he wouldn’t think too much on it, he wasn’t there to make friends after all.

The first class was always easy. Going over the class expectations, the course outline, assignments, exams. Jaehyun wrote down everything anyway. Beside him, he could still hear the boy’s heart beating at an abnormally fast rate. Did Jaehyun intimidate him that much? He felt a little sorry, but maybe next class he’d be lucky and the boy wouldn’t sit next to him again.

When Seulgi ended her class slightly early, Jaehyun immediately stood up, throwing his notebook and pen into his backpack and briskly walking straight towards Sicheng.

“You promised me you’d be here ten minutes early.”

Sicheng smiled, looking a bit sheepish. “We got lost.”

Jaehyun narrowed his eyes, glancing at Yuta, whose mouth split into a mischievous grin.

“Oh, bullshit. You guys probably got too caught up making out in an empty classroom or something.” Jaehyun accused and Sicheng diverted his gaze, embarrassed and confirming Jaehyun’s statement.

“C’mon,” Yuta whispered as they left the classroom together. “Don’t you find it hot being surrounded by all these beating hearts all the time? The music they make…” Yuta darted his tongue over his lips, causing Jaehyun to grimace.

“You’re disgusting.”

“Now I know why you love college so much Jaehyunnie.”

“That’s _not_ \- ugh. Why am I even having this conversation with you.”

Yuta cackled and slung his arm around Sicheng’s shoulders. “We should find a party to go to this weekend. You need to feed soon don’t you Jaehyun? And we should give Taeil a little break.”

Jaehyun said nothing as he pulled his hood over his head when they exited the building, slightly wincing as the sun touched his skin.

“You know Taeil doesn’t like it when we feed from someone else.” Sicheng murmured. Jaehyun looked back to see that Sicheng also had his hood over his head while Yuta had put a baseball cap over his own.

“I know but he needs more time to recuperate, and us missing him just makes it that much better when we do feed from him, doesn’t it?”

“Can we _please_ not talk about your feeding kinks.” Jaehyun groaned as they reached his car. He threw his backpack into the passenger seat beside him as his two vampire friends climbed in the back.

“Who said they were just feeding kinks?” Yuta giggled as Sicheng slapped him, a hit that would have otherwise mortally wounded a human. Jaehyun pretended to gag as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove his friends home. A hundred and fifty years dealing with Yuta and Sicheng’s infatuation with each other and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

  
  


 

Jaehyun was a lot less tense for the second class of NEUR1001. After finally coming to terms with the fact that Sicheng and Yuta would not be coming to class as early as he preferred to, he eased into the same seat he was in last time. He took out his notebook and pen, writing the date in the upper right corner of the page. To waste time until class started, he lazily scrolled through Twitter.

He was pulled out of his trance when he heard the erratic beating of a heart enter the classroom, getting closer, until the boy from last class slipped into the seat beside Jaehyun. He pretended not to notice as the boy took out his laptop from his bag, almost dropping it onto the desk in front of them.

Why was this kid still nervous? Had Jaehyun really scared him that much the first class? And if he had, why was he even still choosing to sit next to him? Maybe he was just a natural nervous wreck, Jaehyun didn’t really know, but the sound of the guy’s blood rapidly coursing through his human body was a little bit of a distraction. Jaehyun would be needing to feed soon.

“Hi.”

Jaehyun looked at the boy, making eye contact with him this time. He was still trying to be friendly, and Jaehyun had to commend him on his effort.

“Hi.” He smiled back, and to his surprise the boy’s heart got even louder. Jaehyun’s eyes flicked to his long neck, watching as his adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. Jaehyun’s gaze snapped back up to the boy’s warm brown eyes when he cleared his throat.

“I’m Johnny.” The boy stuck his hand out.

Jaehyun looked at it, hesitating before deciding to shake it. He felt the boy jump slightly at the cold contact of their fingers.

“Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun turned back to his notebook when he heard snickering coming from the other side of the room. He glared at Yuta, who stuck out his tongue, and beside him, Sicheng gave a thumbs up. Whatever. He wasn’t there to make friends but he could still be fucking civil, couldn’t he?

There wasn’t much time to say anything else as professor Seulgi entered the room, promptly handing out a piece of paper for attendance and starting her class.

When the attendance sheet got to him, Jaehyun hesitated before writing his name. Jung Jaehyun. Three hundred years and he still always wanted to write his birth name down since the moment he had learned how to. He passed the sheet over to the boy beside him, Johnny.

Johnny cleared his throat, his pulse booming as he leaned over. Jaehyun wondered what the hell got this guy so nervous.

“Can I borrow your pen?”

“Oh,” Jaehyun stuck his pen out and Johnny took it. It would have been easy to miss if Jaehyun was human but he wasn’t, so he most definitely noticed the ever so slight jolt in Johnny’s fingers when they came into contact with his. “Sure.”

“Thank you.” Johnny was quiet, trying not to disturb the class as he signed the attendance sheet, though Jaehyun knew at least two people that would be able to hear him no matter what. He side glanced at the paper before Johnny passed it to the student next to him. He turned and handed the pen back to Jaehyun, giving him a small smile.

They didn’t talk the rest of class, though hearing the constant pulsating of Johnny’s blood running through his veins made it a little difficult for Jaehyun to concentrate. He was definitely going to have to feed this weekend.

When professor Seulgi dismissed them, Jaehyun stood up immediately, quickly grabbing his things and heading over to the vampire lovebirds he had the misfortune of knowing.

“Why won’t you sit beside me.” He grumbled as they walked from class to the car.

“You seem to be getting along with _Johnny_ .” Yuta grinned. “Sicheng told me about this whole ‘I’m not here to make friends’ thing, and I think that’s bullshit. Who cares if they die in one year, ten, fifteen, tomorrow? The point is living in the _now_ , Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun sighed, ignoring Yuta’s lecture. This was the way he liked keeping it, that his only friends were all ones that also couldn’t die, with the exception of Taeil. Though Jaehyun had a feeling that was going to change soon, but he hadn’t dared mention it to Sicheng yet.

“We found a party to go to this weekend, if you’re interested.” Sicheng said as they drove home from campus.

“Yeah, I am.” Jaehyun eyed the two through his rearview mirror. They were trying to hide the fact that they were holding hands. “I’m hungry.”

“Finally, I love seeing Jaehyun hunt.” Yuta smirked. It had been a while since they’d all fed at the same time, and Jaehyun had to admit, it was thrilling watching his friends track down their prey. There was something about a pack-like mentality that made it so much more exciting, though they were definitely nothing like werewolves even in the slightest bit. Werewolves chased, tiring out their prey, like animals. Vampires were much more sophisticated in their approach, biding their time, making their prey fall into a trap on their own.

Or as Yuta put it - taking advantage of extremely drunken college students who wouldn’t remember anything the next morning. Jaehyun didn’t really like thinking about the specifics though. He much preferred a willing participant, however it was a _little_ more difficult to get someone inclined to agree to have their blood ingested by a vampire, especially after the whole pop-culture-vampire-movement had died down.

He tried not to think much of it, but there wasn’t a lot he could do when the need overtook him. He too, had to eat to survive, like all other living things. Though, technically, he didn’t really qualify as ‘living’. Another not-so-great perk of being a vampire.

“So Taeil agreed to a break?” Jaehyun asked, curious.

“Yeah, he needs a more time to heal.” Jaehyun glanced into the rearview to find Sicheng glaring at Yuta. “ _Someone_ got a little too excited last time.”

“Hey, he provoked me! You know how much I like it when he-”

“Okay! Nope. Don’t want to hear it. Not in my car please.”

The rest of the ride home was silent, though Jaehyun did not miss the satisfied smirk on Yuta’s face, no doubt replaying the memories of their last feeding with Taeil. Gross.  
  


 

 

 

Though the sun was uncomfortable to be under, it didn’t stop them from doing very normal human-like things. Going out for a walk on a sunny day could be painful, you wouldn’t catch a vampire out doing it for long.

But there was nothing else that compared to being out at night and taking in the moonlight. Jaehyun felt at ease. With Yuta and Sicheng on either side of him, Jaehyun knocked on the door to the frat house, immediately being let in by a tiny girl who was already drunk beyond belief as she cheered when they entered.

It was strategy to be on the later side of arriving at a party. It meant that most attendees were already drunk or at least buzzed, enough that they wouldn’t have to wait long to begin their hunt.

Jaehyun nodded as he split off with Sicheng and Yuta. While all being there together on a hunt was thrilling enough in itself, Jaehyun couldn’t bring himself to hunt one person with both of them. They seemed to… get much more of a kick out of it than he did, so he kept to himself.

He weaved in and out of the crowd, mingling, giving his signature charming smile when he could. He took a red plastic cup and poured some sort of alcohol into it, he didn’t really check, it was all part of the disguise anyway he wouldn’t really be drinking it. Not that it would affect him if he did.

Leaning on a wall and pretending to sip out of his cup, Jaehyun scanned the party, observing. He heard the familiar erratic heartbeat before he spotted him.

Johnny quickly averted his gaze back to the beer pong game he was playing, though Jaehyun had definitely noticed he had been looking. Huh. He guessed he really did make the boy nervous.

Jaehyun glanced to the side to see Yuta watching, glancing between him and Johnny. Jaehyun shook his head. Johnny was off-limits, he wouldn’t risk trying to hunt a boy that seemed adamant in becoming his friend, that would only give him complications later.

Yuta shrugged. _Your loss_.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes, heading towards a different corner of the house, and settling himself on one of the couches. With no one catching his interest yet, he watched Sicheng across the room, seducing a much larger boy, big enough for two vampires to feed on with no problem.

He felt the excitement buzz inside him as he stared at the exchange, Yuta not too far away, looking at both of them with hungry eyes. If Jaehyun’s body could have its way, it would have bitten the next thing that moved. Fortunately, he had a lot more self control. He didn’t want to just feed from anybody, he had a lot more pride and self-worth than that.

He eyed a boy with bright orange hair who was swaying to the beat of the music that boomed throughout the house. Jaehyun watched him with interest, a crackle of electricity zipping through him. He’d found his target.

At that moment the boy turned, his gaze landing on Jaehyun. They stared for a while, before the boy gave him a small, seemingly shy smile, before turning his back to Jaehyun, as if to say ‘ _come and get me_ ’. Jaehyun smirked. He tried limiting his feedings as much as possible, but he forgot how much _fun_ humans could make it sometimes.

“Looks like Jaehyunnie’s found somebody.” Jaehyun heard Yuta whisper in a singsong-like tone as he got up from the couch. As he drew closer to the orange haired boy, his canines aching to extend, the boy turned to him, and Jaehyun smiled softly.

“Give him this, and he’ll knock out like a light I swear man.”

Jaehyun’s head snapped to the sound of the voice he heard, followed by a plop and a quiet fizzing noise. It was coming from the kitchen.

“Hey.” The orange haired boy greeted, his voice sweet like honey. Right. Jaehyun almost forgot what he had been doing. He looked over the boy’s shoulder to see that both Sicheng and Yuta were very much occupied with their target, probably not having heard what had come from the kitchen.

“Hey.” Jaehyun smiled, equally as sweet. “What’s your name?”

“Wouldn’t you like to find out.”

Jaehyun hadn’t even heard the boy. He was too distracted by the guy with the fizzing cup walking out of the kitchen and straight to the dining table. He was going to give Johnny a drugged drink.

Without thinking, Jaehyun swiftly maneuvered around the crowd to get to him. The man had already left after saying some sickly sweet pickup line and Johnny was bringing the cup to his lips when Jaehyun stopped him.

“Hey-!” Johnny cried out as Jaehyun ripped the cup from his hands, spilling some of it onto the floor.

“Don’t accept drinks from anyone. Don’t leave your drinks unattended.” Jaehyun growled.

Johnny’s eyes widened, shocked. Jaehyun didn’t waste time and he beelined it for the man who had given Johnny the drink.

He hooded his eyes, offering his best seductive gaze as he approached the man. “Hey,” His voice was low and sultry. “I couldn’t resist but get you this drink and see where that took me.”

The man seemed taken with him, but Jaehyun hadn’t completely won him over. “Sorry, I don’t accept drinks from strangers.”

What a fucking shit bag. “Maybe we shouldn’t be strangers then.”

Jaehyun’s eyes were compelling. The man gulped and nodded, drawing himself closer to Jaehyun, who walked backwards, expertly guiding the fuckhead to an unoccupied bathroom.

He closed the door behind them, waiting a moment before putting the drink down on the sink counter and grabbing the man by the throat, picking him up and smashing him against the wall. The man gasped for air, prying at Jaehyun’s cold fingers on his neck.

“You think you can just give someone a drugged drink and fucking get away with it?” Jaehyun seethed, no trace of the seductor to be found any longer. His mouth pained as his incisors grew slowly. He had no doubt that his eyes had turned blood red already by the look of sheer horror on the man’s face.

“Have a taste of your own fucking medicine you shit bag.” Jaehyun growled and grabbed the drink from the counter, holding it up to the man’s face. He was furious just thinking about what the man would have done if he would have been successful in his attempt at Johnny. Taking advantage of someone, hurting them, and then having the luxury of them not remembering? Bullshit. This man was a piece of trash.

He would feed him his own poison, Jaehyun decided. And then he would feed from him. There was nothing like rage and fear for added flavour. His insides buzzed. They were ready and hungry.

But Jaehyun could not seem to tip the cup into the man’s mouth. Though his body screamed at him to do it so it could _eat already_ , Jaehyun could not pour the drugged liquid into the man’s mouth.

The flame of his anger began to flicker. He loosened his grip, and the man fell to the floor, gasping for air.

A man who took advantage of someone’s disoriented state and hurt them, with the benefit of not having them remember what happened. All they would have would be the scars that remained with them for however long.

Jaehyun felt sickened. Not only because he was in the presence of this man, but because he had realized that they were not so different.

He wanted to scream. While Jaehyun technically didn’t need to breathe to live, he felt winded. His flame was burnt out now.

He stared at the man, who cowered on the floor. Pathetic. But he had no choice. His eyes had glowed red and his fangs had shown. The man had to forget.

As much as he may have wanted to rip the man’s jaw open, he took it gently, opening his mouth to pour in the spiked drink. He forced the man to swallow before he crushed the plastic cup in his hand, throwing it on the ground, disgusted. Jaehyun suddenly wanted to take an hour long shower.

He left the man on the floor in the bathroom, and didn’t bother checking for Sicheng or Yuta. Jaehyun marched straight towards the entrance, but found someone running to block his escape.

“Jaehyun-” Johnny started but his voice faltered, obviously forgetting whatever it was that he had planned to say.

“Hey!”

Jaehyun turned around, to find the drugged man outside the bathroom, on his feet, looking angry. This was the one time Jaehyun had ever wished that the drug’s effects could have been immediate.

The man swung, and Jaehyun let him hit him square in the jaw. He supposed it was only fair, he deserved it. The man gasped in pain, to him it would have felt like hitting a marble wall, though to Jaehyun it felt like a feather. He played his part, pretending to be swayed by the impact.

He felt hands on him, trying to get him steady, but Jaehyun shook them off, tapping his fist against the man’s cheek in retaliation. He fell onto the floor in a clump, instantly knocked out.

“Jaehyun-” Johnny started again, but it was too late, Jaehyun was already out the door.

His body screamed at him. He needed to feed, he needed blood, and he could smell it on his hand from his hit on the man who had touched him.

Even though every part of him ached to sink his teeth into flesh and drink until he couldn’t drink anymore, Jaehyun decided that he was no longer hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaehyun deals with the after effects of not feeding.

Yuta and Sicheng arrived at their home shortly after Jaehyun, who was sat in their study, a book in his lap as he absentmindedly gnawed on his finger.

“What the fuck happened?” Yuta demanded. Jaehyun could smell the fresh blood on his tongue. His little scene must have interrupted their feeding.

“Got into a fight, It was nothing.” Jaehyun turned the page of the book, pretending to be absorbed into the words. “You didn’t have to come after me.”

Silence, but Jaehyun was not tempted to peer up and see the look on their faces.

“You didn’t feed.” Sicheng’s voice was quiet, but accusing, perhaps with a hint of worry. Jaehyun turned the page again. The worst part was that he’d heard that exact phrase come from Sicheng before.

“I’m not hungry.” Jaehyun whispered.

“Don’t lie to me.”

They’d had this conversation, almost 200 years earlier, before Yuta, when it was just Jaehyun and Sicheng. Jaehyun refused to let himself remember how it had ended.

“I’m not lying.” Jaehyun raised his voice, finally looking at his best friend. “I’m just not hungry.”

In part, he really was telling the truth. While his body screamed that it was hungry, that it needed blood, Jaehyun had no actual desire to eat. But that wasn’t the answer Sicheng wanted to hear.

They stared at each other. Jaehyun could tell that Sicheng did not believe him one bit, but he wasn’t going to press further.

Yuta, on the other hand, was a different matter.

He sat himself down on the sofa beside Jaehyun and leaned in, opening his mouth and exhaling. The scent of fresh blood prickled Jaehyun’s nose, and his mouth ached with a ravenous longing. His body convulsed, torn between sticking his fangs into Yuta’s mouth and strangling him. To his own delight, Jaehyun managed to grab Yuta by the throat.

The younger vampire simply laughed, unphased. “Why won’t you eat, Jaehyunnie?”

Normally the pet name wouldn’t phase him, he’d ignore it like all the other times. But usually, Jaehyun wasn’t trying to bury the urge to hurt something, or somebody.

A low rumble erupted from his throat, his grip on Yuta’s neck tightening.

“Oh, come on Jaehyunnie,” Yuta was still smiling, his voice strained from the pressure on his esophagus. “Don’t be like that.”

“Taunt me one more fucking time Nakamoto.”

“Both of you need to  _ fucking stop _ .”

Sicheng’s expression was unreadable, but it was enough to wipe the smile off of Yuta’s face and for Jaehyun to let go of the younger vampire’s neck.

“Why didn’t you feed?”

Jaehyun turned his attention back to the book he hadn’t been reading. “I just… Couldn’t.”

Sicheng sighed. “You need to eat, Jaehyun.”

“I know,” Jaehyun whispered, playing with the ear of one of the pages of his book. “But I wish I didn’t have to.”

There was a moment of silence before Yuta snorted. “Are you having some sort of vampiric existential crisis or something?”

When neither of the older vampires answered, Yuta finally seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. “Oh.” Was all he said.

“If you don’t feed then you’ll snap sooner or later Jaehyun.” Jaehyun couldn’t help but detect the slight disappointment in Sicheng’s tone. “And we both know how well that can end.”

Jaehyun knew his best friend was just being firm because they knew this situation all too well, but his words still stung. “I’m  _ fine _ .” Jaehyun stood up, slamming the book onto the couch and its spine broke in half. “I’ll figure this out myself.”

He stalked off, perhaps a little more dramatic than he’d liked, but he was on edge. Jaehyun knew the danger he was getting into by not feeding, he knew it very well. But he still could not bring himself to leave the house and find some poor soul to feed on that night.   
  
  
  


 

Jaehyun didn’t talk to either of his vampire friends at all that weekend. He could hear them through the walls, murmuring to each other, but neither of them attempted to make contact with the other. On the day that they had their neuroscience class together, Jaehyun noticed Sicheng’s car was missing from the garage as he got into his own. He guessed he wouldn’t be driving them home like normal.

It had been easy to ignore the hunger at his core when he wasn't surrounded by humans. The music he blasted in his ears as he walked through campus couldn't quite mask the sound of the beating hearts surrounding him. The sun seemed to burn him a little more than normal.

He exhaled in relief when he reached his classroom, empty for the moment. He was earlier than usual.

Jaehyun slipped into his seat and rested his head in the crook of his elbow. It wasn't common for a vampire to feel tired, but as Jaehyun tried to desperately shove his temptation back into the depths of his body, he was exhausted. He absentmindedly chewed on his finger while the classroom began to fill with students.

He heard Yuta and Sicheng arrive, but he refused to look at them. He'd half hoped they'd sit beside him, knowing how dangerous it might be if a human was beside him. 

Jaehyun clenched his jaw. Nothing was going to happen. He had this under control. He'd been able to walk through campus no problem, he could sit amongst a few living beings for an hour and a half.

His confidence was soon shattered as he heard the rapid pulsating of that familiar heart rate. Jaehyun gasped, but quickly bit down onto his finger. He could feel Sicheng's gaze on him as Johnny took his usual seat beside Jaehyun.

_ Thump, thump, thump. _

“Hey, are you okay?”

Johnny leaned in, trying to examine Jaehyun's face under his hood.

Damn. Was it that obvious that he was in pain?

_ Thump, thump. _

“I saw you get punched,” Johnny continued. “But you don't seem to have a scratch on you. Much luckier than the other guy. I heard he was trying to drug people at that party.”

“Yeah. I heard. What a jackass.” Jaehyun sat up straight, gritting his teeth as he spoke. He massaged his cheeks, trying to soothe his aching gums.

Jaehyun had to stop himself from smiling in relief when Seulgi entered the class, promptly handing out a piece of paper for attendance. It meant that Johnny could stop leaning over to talk to him.

_ Thump, thump, thump. _

Though hearing that damn heart beat was going to be his downfall. It was so much louder than the others, Jaehyun would have been able to pick it out of a crowd of thousands. He gnawed on his finger forcefully.

He could do it easily. Just reach over and sink his teeth into any part of Johnny's flesh. He could just rip it open and watch the blood spill onto the floor. A feast was right beside him, ripe and ready.

_ Thump, thump _ .

Jaehyun wanted to scream. No, no,  _ no _ . He wasn't going to do that. He felt like shit just thinking about it. His mouth tightened around his finger. He could see both Yuta and Sicheng watching him from his peripheral now, probably waiting to see if he would break.

Johnny leaned over again, this time to pass the attendance sheet to Jaehyun, who inhaled sharply, accidentally taking in a waft of the boy’s cologne.

_ Thump, thump, thump. _

Jaehyun said nothing, quickly scribbling his name down and passing it to the person behind him.

Seulgi hadn’t officially started class yet, so the students around them were still talking. At least that helped disguise the sound of all the other hearts in the room, there was just the one that Jaehyun was having the problem with.

As if to make matters worse, Johnny decided to lean in again.

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot, but when you took that drink away from me at the party, did you know the guy had drugged it? Is that why you punched him?”

Jaehyun nodded, too afraid to actually say anything in case he said something he didn’t mean to. He stared at Seulgi intently. Please start class, just  _ please start class _ .

“Oh, wow. Thanks.”

_ Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. _

He needed to get Johnny to back away. His cologne was intoxicating, Jaehyun could have easily lost himself in it if he wasn’t in excruciating pain.

“Anyways, I was wondering, we have this project later and -”

“No offense Johnny,” Jaehyun’s hands were shaking as he finally looked at the boy beside him. “But I’m not  _ fucking _ here to make friends.”

Johnny blinked. “Oh.”

Jaehyun turned back to watching their professor, who was finally starting class, knuckles white as he clenched his fists. 

His outburst was supposed to make him feel better, not worse. It got Johnny to lean away and to stop talking to him, but he could still hear it, that goddamn beating, clear as day.

_ Thump, thump, thump. _

With one hand occupied with his pen to take notes and the other in his mouth to chew, Jaehyun sat there, frozen, unable to do either. The pain in his gums and his bones had suddenly disappeared. Jaehyun slowly extracted his finger from his mouth, and to his horror, found an indent on his hand that could have only been made from his canines.

His teeth had come out. He had no doubt his eyes had already changed colours. He needed to get out of there,  _ fast _ .

Without another second to lose Jaehyun pushed up out of his seat, grabbing his backpack by the straps and hauling himself out of the classroom, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone. He sprinted across campus and straight to his car. His grip was so tight on the steering wheel he thought he might crush it.

He slammed his car door shut when he arrived home, probably a little too hard. Crashing through the front door of his home, he skidded on the floor, crumpling. And then he started to scream.   
  
  
  


 

Yuta and Sicheng had found him not long after, in the basement, next to a pile of smashed bricks.

“Well… at least he didn’t break the wall.” Yuta looked at the mound of dust on the floor, impressed.

Sicheng said nothing as he approached Jaehyun, who was sitting cross-legged, his head bowed in shame.

“You knew I’d do this again.” Jaehyun’s voice was barely a whisper.

“I didn’t know,” Sicheng sat in front of him, tapping his chin to make him lift his head up. “But I had them just in case.”

Sicheng pulled the corner of Jaehyun’s mouth with his finger, inspecting the sharp incisor covered in red dust.

“Wait, he was  _ eating _ the bricks?” Yuta asked, dumbfounded, still observing from afar.

Sicheng ignored him as he picked a clump of broken brick in between Jaehyun’s teeth with his nail. “Were you trying to break them off again?”

“No,” Jaehyun sighed. “It’s the only way I could resist biting anything else, even myself. I know I can’t get rid of them.” He reached up and touched his fangs gently.

“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on and why this seems like it’s happened before?” Yuta sounded annoyed. Jaehyun assumed it was because he was being left out of the conversation.

“Because it has,” Sicheng didn’t take his eyes off Jaehyun as he spoke. “You know what it’s like to become a vampire, Yuta. All you wanna do is drink. And once you get over that frenzy it just becomes natural, you do what you have to do to survive.

But Jaehyun…” The way Sicheng looked into his eyes made Jaehyun want to cry, though he hadn’t even teared up in over fifty years. “There was no perfect target for him. He didn’t want to take advantage of beggars, or women. Not even the rich folk who made the peasants’ lives hell.

The vampire that turned us, Soojung, wouldn’t let Jaehyun go hungry. But once she was killed - you remember that story right? Once she died, Jaehyun just stopped feeding. And we were in the service of these twins, they would pay  _ us _ to drink their blood.”

Sicheng finally turned his head to look at Yuta, and Jaehyun noticed he was frowning.

“Yeah, they were into some weird shit - anyways,” Sicheng turned back to Jaehyun. “When Jaehyun stopped eating, I would drink from both twins so he wouldn’t get in trouble. But back then we didn’t know what hunger could do to you… We didn’t know…”

Sicheng trailed off, looking lost. The memory was painful for both of them, and Jaehyun could recall every single detail like it had happened the day before.

There was a moment of silence before he finally spoke.

“I ripped them both to shreds.” Jaehyun looked Yuta straight in the eye. A look of horror flashed across Yuta’s face before he tried masking it, but Jaehyun had already seen it. Yuta knew what it meant. Not only had Jaehyun killed two humans, he had also put Sicheng, his best friend, through excruciating, mind numbing pain.

“I had to force feed him for months after that.” Sicheng blinked. Was he about to cry too? 

Another moment of silence. It seemed that neither of the two best friends knew quite what to say.

“Okay, I get you guys have a tragic backstory and all that, but,” Yuta came forward, his arms crossed, and the two older vampires stared at him. “You’re still here. You got past it. Let’s get past it again.”

Sicheng looked thoughtful as he turned to Jaehyun. “What will get you to eat?”

Jaehyun shrugged. He honestly didn’t know this time. He had done it for Sicheng for almost a hundred years until he’d gotten into the groove of being a goddamn vampire again, before his resolve had been easily crushed a couple days earlier.

“I have an idea.” Yuta piped up, a smile spreading on his face. Jaehyun looked at him questioningly but the younger vampire barely looked his way as he took Sicheng’s arm, making him get up. “C’mon, we need to talk to Taeil.”

They hurried out of the basement, leaving a stunned, hungry, and slightly emotional Jaehyun sitting by himself, wondering what the hell Yuta was thinking about.

  
  
  


 

“No.”

“C’mon Jaehyunnie.”

“ _ No _ .”

The two vampires had returned home with a solution for Jaehyun and his hunger problem, one that he did not like whatsoever.

“Taeil said he was fine with it.”

“I’m not - I’m not - I am  _ not _ feeding from your boyfriend.”

Jaehyun sent a pleading look to Sicheng. Surely he would see that it was a bad idea. He knew what could happen - what might happen.

But Sicheng showed no sign of being on his side. “You need to eat before you kill somebody - which is a lot harder to get away with in this day and age, let me remind you - and Taeil is willing to let you feed from him.”

Jaehyun shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” Sicheng placed a hand on Jaehyun’s cheek, gently rubbing his thumb over his lip, where one of his incisors were. “It’ll only be once. Until we figure out our next step.”

He hadn’t cried in almost fifty years and in one day Jaehyun had been close to letting out tears twice already. Sicheng trusted him enough to let him drink from Taeil, the human with whom he had an inseperable bond with.

Jaehyun had ripped that bond from Sicheng before, and the last thing on earth that he wanted to do was make him go through it again. Yuta as well, they might not have been as close, but Jaehyun would never wish that pain on anybody.

Feeding on a human once was nothing. He could feed on Taeil, and then try and figure out where his next meal would come from. He would not let himself have to drink from Taeil more than once, he couldn’t risk forming that bond with him too. 

“Are you sure he’s okay with it?” Jaehyun asked, needing reassurance.

“We didn’t even have to convince him.” Yuta chimed in, a bright smile on his face, presumably proud of Taeil. “He knows how much you mean to Sicheng.”

Jaehyun sighed. The immediate positives outweighed the might-be negatives. He could feed, not kill anybody and have a clear mind. The chance of this going wrong was minimal, and to be honest, Jaehyun was really fucking hungry. He didn’t know how much he could take anymore.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

Yuta cheered and Sicheng smiled, his hand still on Jaehyun’s cheek.

“Just once.” Jaehyun whispered to him.

“Just once.” Sicheng repeated.

  
  
  


 

Taeil arrived later that day, and Jaehyun had to keep a brick in his hand to stop himself from attacking the human on sight. He had tucked himself in the corner of the basement, digging his fingernails into the block of concrete.

Surprisingly, Taeil’s heartbeat was slow and steady, and he gave Jaehyun an easy smile when he spotted him.

“Sicheng.” Jaehyun whispered and his friend was suddenly in front of him. “Sicheng I don’t know - if I can - I don’t trust myself…”

“Well you should.” If Sicheng had been feeling any sort of worry, he was doing a wonderful job at masking it. “I know you’re not going to hurt him.” He smiled and retreated to the stairs.

“For our own sake we’re going to leave. Just… call us when you’re done.” Yuta was a little more visibly uneasy, though the entire thing had been his idea in the first place. He placed a quick peck on Taeil’s cheek before following Sicheng up the stairs and out of the basement.

Taeil clapped his hands together before heading over to the brown, rather beat up couch on the opposite side of the basement and perched himself on it.

“I’ll just wait until you’re ready.”

Jaehyun nodded, rolling the brick around in his hands. He needed to be careful. If he even lost control in the slightest bit he could end up killing Taeil.

He stopped playing with the brick, moving one step forward. “Why did they leave me here alone with you when they know what could happen?”

Taeil shrugged rather nonchalantly. “They trust you.”

Jaehyun took another step forward.

“Maybe they shouldn’t.”

“You won’t hurt me Jaehyun.” Taeil sounded so sure of himself, his heartbeat hadn’t wavered at all since he had entered the basement. “You might be afraid of what you’re capable of, and it may be in a vampire’s nature to tear someone apart, but it’s not in  _ your _ nature.”

Jaehyun advanced until he stood in front of Taeil, looking down at him. He couldn’t help but smirk. He could never have imagined that having two vampires in love with you could make you so fearless. Or maybe it was just Taeil on his own. He admired it.

He managed to sit down on the couch beside the human with no problem. Taeil turned to him, expectant but Jaehyun grimaced.

“Could you… turn around? Doing it from the front just seems too…”

“Intimate?” Taeil chuckled and Jaehyun nodded grimly. He just… preferred not to think about what his friends all got up to when he wasn’t there. He wanted to keep this as scientific as possible. Jaehyun was just feeding, that was it and all it would ever be.

Taeil faced away, his hands in his lap as he patiently waited for Jaehyun to make his move. The vampire placed a tentative hand on Taeil’s shoulder, leaning in slowly. His incisors had been out almost all day already and they were practically buzzing in excitement.

“Are you ready?” Jaehyun whispered.

“You’re right there Jaehyun you don’t have to - Ah!”

Jaehyun’s fangs pierced into the base of Taeil’s neck, sinking in deep. Taeil breathed heavily, trying to stay relaxed as his body stiffened in sharp agony, but it wasn’t long before Jaehyun’s saliva entered his blood stream, effectively numbing the pain. Taeil slumped against Jaehyun’s chest, and the vampire held him steady.

Once Taeil was tranquil, Jaehyun began to drink. Blood splashed into his mouth, colouring his insides. He gasped in between gulps. It had been so long, so fucking long since he’d eaten, it was like his ability to feel was returning back into his fingers and toes after being numb for days.

He held on to Taeil tightly, enough to keep the both of them steady. And he kept drinking, because that’s all he could think of doing, that’s all he wanted. Blood. It tasted so fucking good, like he was filling himself up with _ life  _ again.

He could keep going for as long as he wanted to. He could drain Taeil of every last drop in his body. He had that power. He could do it if he really want to. His body wanted to.

_ No. _

“Jaehyun.” Taeil’s voice was firm despite his gasp.

_ I don’t want to. _

Jaehyun’s incisors retracted so quickly he choked on the blood that was still sliding down his throat. His hand flew to his mouth, attempting to catch the small drops that escaped his lips, trying not to get any on Taeil or the couch.

“Are you okay?” Taeil asked and Jaehyun nodded, breathing heavily as his body calmed down. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the fresh blood across his skin. He’d have to take a shower later, but right now, he’d bask in the fact that the smell of blood didn’t make him want to tear his hair out. 

Jaehyun finally felt normal again. As normal as a vampire could feel.

“I told you.” Taeil smiled and Jaehyun rolled his eyes. He knew exactly who he was going to hear that from again later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise we get waaaay more johnjae in the next chapter dhhjsas
> 
> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaehyun tries to make up for his past mistakes and maybe make a friend along the way. Maybe.

Jaehyun groaned into his hands, remembering the absolutely mortifying scene he’d made the day before, when he’d starved himself to the point of chewing on bricks.

Then he let out a strangled yell combined of irritation and embarrassment when he remembered that he’d stormed out of class, after having snapped at Johnny, a poor kid who was just trying to be _ friendly _ after Jaehyun had stopped him from drinking a drugged drink.

“This is why you should eat when you’re told to.” Yuta commented from across the living room where he lay splayed across the couch. The TV was on but instead he was looking at Jaehyun with a smirk playing across his lips.

Jaehyun slowly closed his fingers into fists, all except his two middle fingers and glared at Yuta before turning to look at Sicheng, who was sitting at the table with him.

“Can I borrow your notes for neuro from last class? Since I didn’t finish mine.” He asked.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have run out of class then.” Sicheng didn’t even glance up from his book as he replied in a heartbeat. Jaehyun’s mouth fell open, offended, and Yuta howled in laughter from the couch.

“I - You - I was -” Jaehyun, struggling for words at his so called friends’ ‘jokes’, sighed when Sicheng finally cracked a smile, opening his backpack and passing his laptop over to Jaehyun. 

“I hate both of you.”

“It’s good to have you back, Jaehyunnie.” Yuta cooed and Jaehyun rolled his eyes, grabbing Sicheng’s laptop and his own backpack on the way to his room, where maybe he could escape their teasing for a moment or two.

It was only a minute before Jaehyun came out into the living room again. “Have you guys seen my notebook?”

“The one you write all of your existential thoughts in or?” 

Jaehyun ignored Yuta and headed towards Sicheng. “Have you seen my neuro notebook?”

Sicheng shook his head. “No, but maybe this is your sign to finally give in to modern technology and take your notes on a laptop instead so you don’t lose them.”

“I  _ just _ got a phone and twitter, what more do you want from me?”

His friends were no help, Jaehyun decided. He’d just have to start a new one with the help of Sicheng’s notes. At least it was still only the second week of classes, he hadn’t lost much.

He went back into his room, perused his drawer for an adequate empty notebook to take his old one’s place, and then settled himself on his bean bag chair with Sicheng’s laptop and began to rewrite his notes. 

Once he finished he thought about what kind of bullshit excuse he could give Johnny as to why he snapped at him. That is, if the kid still sat next to him in class. He probably wouldn’t, seeing as Jaehyun did tell him rather aggressively that he didn’t want to be his friend.

He realized that that  _ was _ what he wanted. He wasn’t there to make friends. Sure, telling a perfectly nice human to fuck off wasn’t exactly the right way to do it but it was done now, he couldn’t reverse it even if he wanted to. 

He kind of wanted to. It’s not like Jaehyun enjoyed being mean. He’d never tasted one before but Jaehyun noted that those Snicker chocolate bar commercials were right, you’re not you when you’re hungry. Especially when you hadn’t fed in almost a month, but Jaehyun knew that worse things could have definitely happened if he had not agreed to drink from Taeil.

The sun hurt less as it reflected off his skin on his way to class the next day. It felt good to not be hungry.

He settled into his seat, pulling out his new notebook and scribbling the date in the top right corner. He pulled out his phone and decided to scroll through Reddit, as he had just been introduced to the site and Twitter wasn’t quite doing it for him anymore. Humans were certainly getting creative on the internet nowadays.

He had barely registered that class had started when Seulgi began to speak, starting on their fourth lecture. Jaehyun realized he did not hear the signature erratic heartbeat he had already gotten used to listening to. He turned slightly to find the seat beside him empty.

Well that should have been expected, he  _ had _ cursed at him. But as Jaehyun scanned the classroom and everyone in it, he realized that Johnny was not there.

He frowned. He supposed he did scare the guy, but he didn’t expect him to not show up at all.

Jaehyun snapped his head to the front as the piece of paper for attendance was shoved onto his desk, the student in front of him clearly frustrated that he had not noticed them holding it out to him.

He wrote down his own name, and then hesitated for a moment. He remembered his second neuro class, where he’d peeked at the attendance sheet. He put his pen to the paper again, this time trying to write a little differently than how he’d written his own name.  _ John Suh _ .

Jaehyun passed the attendance sheet to the student behind him and then concentrated on his professor’s words. He’d only hoped that Johnny showed up next class. Jaehyun just really wanted to apologize.   
  
  
  


 

Jaehyun had to admit - this kid was getting to him more than he wanted to. Yes, he didn’t want friends, but he also didn’t want to be  _ that guy _ that yelled at people for trying to be friends. He was just supposed to be unapproachable for the most part.

He spent the weekend wondering why Johnny skipped class. Had he dropped out? Had Jaehyun caused that? Surely he hadn’t, it would take someone a lot more than just one mean comment to drop out of a class right?

Unless Johnny didn’t want to see his face anymore, which Jaehyun could understand. He hoped he didn’t ruin the plan for whatever degree he was getting if he did drop the course.

Or maybe it was because Johnny had been asking him to do their project together and Jaehyun had all but said _ ‘fuck no’  _ to his face. He guessed that was a little humiliating. Maybe really humiliating. He hoped Johnny didn’t take it to heart too much.

“Thinking about your boo?” Yuta made a jab at Jaehyun when he hadn’t responded to whatever it was that Yuta had been saying earlier.

Jaehyun said nothing, shoving his face deeper into the book he had in his hands.

“Jaehyun has a boo?” He heard Taeil ask.

“He’s not my anything,” Jaehyun groaned, flashing a glare at Yuta for even mentioning it. “Just a guy in class that sits beside me and I snapped at him.”

“And he didn’t come in to the last class we had.” Sicheng added.

“Oh. So you’re worried then, Jaehyun?”

“I’m not worried.”

“Jaehyunnie looked _ so  _ lonely last class.” Yuta ignored the second death glare Jaehyun sent his way. He was too busy looking at Taeil. “He says he doesn’t want friends but I think he’s already attached to the human.”

“Oh really? Is he cute? Is he Jaehyun’s type?” 

“He is  _ so _ Jaehyun’s type.”

“Can we not gossip about me when I’m right here? Please?” Jaehyun grumbled and the two vampires and their human simply laughed.

“He didn’t deny it.” Taeil whispered though Jaehyun was positive he knew that he’d be able to hear him anyway. Maybe that human was just a little too fearless.

“Anyways, have you thought about what you’re going to do for feeding next month?” It took Jaehyun a moment to register that Taeil was actually talking to him and not whispering about him.

“It’s been one day since I fed, I don’t get a break for worrying about that?” Jaehyun wasn’t going to admit he’d already begun to worry about it. He had a little less than a month before he’d go crazy with hunger again, what was there  _ not  _ to worry about?

“I… might have an idea.”

Jaehyun peered curiously over his book at Taeil.

“There’s this… guy I know.”

Taeil’s hesitance made Jaehyun weary.

“He saw the fang marks on my neck - I didn’t do a very good job at covering them up apparently. And he’s  _ interested _ …”

All three vampires were staring at Taeil now.

“What do you mean,  _ interested? _ ” Jaehyun asked cautiously, not really liking wherever it was that Taeil was going with this.

“Well, in -” Taeil looked at Sicheng’s face, finding the courage to finish his sentence. “- in  _ bloodplay _ .”

Yuta made a noise that was a cross between a snort and a choke, while Sicheng simply stared at the human. Jaehyun wasn’t able to feel the heat in his cheeks but he knew if he looked in a mirror they would be pink.

He shook his head fervently, hiding it partially behind his book again. “Nope, nope, nope, nope. I am  _ not  _ doing that. Nope.”

Taeil rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to have sex with him, he just wants his blood sucked.”

“Though it’ll probably be good for Jaehyun to get laid. It’s been how many decades?” Yuta snickered and Jaehyun shot him a glare.

“I don’t think it’s such a bad idea.” Sicheng added in and Jaehyun widened his eyes at him, pleading. Taeil had a broad grin as the vampire spoke, happy his idea had been of some help. “It means you have at least one more meal. Maybe more.”

“I’m not forming anything with him.” Jaehyun wouldn’t allow himself to bond with a human again. It would hurt too much. Not what after happened last time.

It was Yuta who huffed and rolled his eyes this time. “No one said you have to. Just think about it okay? We don’t have to do anything until it gets closer to feeding time.”

Jaehyun grumbled and shoved his face into his book once more. He found it hard to concentrate on what he was reading - his mind elsewhere. He thought of the guy that Taeil mentioned, the one who wanted his blood sucked. He’d comment that it was a bit weird, but then again he was a vampire and drank blood for a living, he didn’t really have room for _ ‘weird’ _ .

But soon his head went back to Johnny, and his bizarre heart palpitations, and a dark thought crossed Jaehyun’s mind. He suddenly wondered what it would be like to sink his fangs into the boy with the long neck.

_ No. _

Jaehyun pushed the thought out of his head. He was not going to think about that. Not now, not ever. Though he couldn’t really place why he shouldn’t.

  
  
  


 

He managed to mostly get Johnny out of his mind until it came time for class again. Jaehyun was in his regular spot, scrolling through Reddit, though he really wasn’t paying attention to what he was looking at. He was trying to listen.

He scrolled past a photo of the most adorable puppy he’d ever seen and he froze.

_ Thump, thump, thump. _

There it was. The heartbeat. Coming down the hallway. Turning left, coming closer. Now it’s stopped still in front of the door, why did he stop?

The classroom door opened with a click and Jaehyun forced his finger to slowly scroll past the picture of the puppy. He couldn’t concentrate on any of the posts going by now, he could only hear the volume of the rhythmic beating getting louder and louder.

Johnny slid into the seat next to Jaehyun, roughly dropping his bag onto the desk in front of him.

_ Well that was a little silly, _ Jaehyun thought. _ Doesn’t he have his laptop in there? _

The boy seemed to be contemplating something before turning in his seat to look at Jaehyun.

“Did you write my name down for attendance last class?”

“Hm?” Jaehyun looked up from his phone at Johnny. It wasn’t what he was expecting to be asked, he was more prepared for an angrier tone and a little more cursing. Though Johnny definitely did not look as friendly as he had been in the past. His face was etched into a frown, and Jaehyun would have assumed he was nervous by the way his heart was beating, but since it always seemed to beat like that Jaehyun didn’t really know what to think.

“Did you write my name down for attendance?” Johnny repeated himself, and then sighed. “I got a mark on my grades saying I went to the last class but I didn’t. Did you do it?”

Jaehyun blinked, unsure of what to say. He supposed the truth was good enough. “Yeah.”

Without saying anything, Johnny turned back to his bag, rummaging through it for a moment before pulling out Jaehyun’s old notebook and slapping it down in front of him.

Jaehyun stared at the notebook. He must have left it on the desk when he had stormed out a week ago. Had Johnny… kept it?

“Thanks…”

Johnny said nothing and took out his laptop and placed it in front of him.

Should he apologize now? Students were beginning to fill the class, Sicheng and Yuta would be there soon and it would be a bit humiliating to have them there listening but he supposed it was better than not doing it at all.

And besides, he’d have to find someone to do the project with anyway, and Johnny had wanted to do it with him before. He definitely knew Yuta and Sicheng would be doing it together. This was his only chance, really.

Not that he wanted a friend. He just needed a project partner. And to not be mean.

“Did you want to do that project together?”

Johnny’s hands froze in the middle of typing for only a slight moment before continuing, as if nothing happened. “Not really.”

Damn it. He should have expected that, but it still kind of hurt. Only a little.

“That’s fine, I get it.” Jaehyun nodded, turning back to his notebooks and shoving his old one in his bag. He’d have to reuse it for another class or something. “I’m… sorry about what I said last time. I wasn’t having a good day.”

Johnny was pretending to ignore him but Jaehyun knew by the spike in his heart rate that the boy had heard him.

“And that’s not really an excuse as to why I was so rude to you but - I just - I’m sorry.” If Jaehyun wasn’t already technically dead he would have wished he was, especially hearing the slight snickering from one certain vampire he wanted to choke out.

The boy continued to ignore him as class started, and Jaehyun gave up trying to talk to him. He definitely deserved it.

Jaehyun tried taking notes. He couldn’t help but be distracted by the thumping noise beside him. He continued to wonder why Johnny seemed to be so nervous all the time. Why couldn’t he calm down? Did he have a heart condition?

No - that couldn’t be true, Jaehyun would be able to smell it if he did. And he didn’t seem like an anxious person either. What exactly was going through John Suh’s mind?

When Seulgi concluded class Jaehyun realized he had only taken notes for the first two slides. He’d never been this distracted in class before. He dreaded having to ask Sicheng for his notes, knowing that he was going to get teased again, but asking Johnny was out of the question.

Even talking to Johnny seemed out of the question. He’d probably screwed up the only decent acquaintanceship he’d had with any human in years. Oh well, give him one hundred more and maybe he’ll find someone else.

Rather than escaping quickly like he usually did, Jaehyun took his time putting his things back into his backpack. He had zipped it up and was halfway out of his seat when he heard Johnny whisper to himself.

“Ah, fuck it.” Johnny turned to Jaehyun and stared up at him from his seat. “I have no other friends so can we please do the project together?”

Jaehyun found himself sitting back down again. “I - Sure.”

This was not what he had been expecting. Johnny never talking to him again - sure - but having him agree to do the project together? That wasn’t something Jaehyun ever saw happening even before the moment he refused the first time.

“What’s your Facebook? I’ll message you when I’m free.” Johnny pulled out his phone from his pocket, tapping through some things before turning the screen to Jaehyun. 

Johnny wasn’t looking at him now, Jaehyun noticed. And his cheeks had turned a slight pink. Though even with his enhanced eyesight Jaehyun wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not.

“I… I don’t have a Facebook.” Jaehyun recalled Sicheng’s words of ‘ _ You don’t need Facebook, it’s a dying social media app anyway’ _ and internally cursed them. Maybe if he had a Facebook - whatever that was - he wouldn’t feel like such an idiot when a mere human looked at him in astonishment.

“Okay… I guess… Give me your phone number?” 

Jaehyun definitely wasn’t imagining it now. Johnny was blushing.

He reached for the boy’s phone and typed in his phone number. He was almost about to hand it back to him when he realized he had typed in his first name, his real name.  _ Yoonoh _ . He quickly deleted it and replaced it with Jaehyun, the one he went by now, the one that Yuta annoyed him with so much, before giving the phone back.

“So I’ll text you when we need to start working on it.” Johnny nodded, probably to himself. He still wasn’t looking at Jaehyun as he turned to put his laptop away in his bag.

“Yeah.” Jaehyun got up out of his seat and swung his backpack over his shoulder. “See you around.”

To his dread he met up with Yuta and Sicheng right outside the classroom, and they had obviously overheard everything as they tried to contain their very obvious grins.

“I don’t wanna hear it.” Jaehyun walked past them, heading to the parking lot like they usually did.

They both snickered but followed him out, neither of them saying a word. Which somehow made it all worse.

“What?” Jaehyun demanded as he looked into the rearview mirror at them once they’d gotten into the car. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” Sicheng smiled. “It looks like you’ll be spending a lot more time with Johnny now then.”

Jaehyun huffed and pulled his car out of the parking lot. His steering wheel still had small indents from his hands from his little episode last week. He’d gotten it fixed for the most part.

And then Yuta opened his mouth.

“I can’t believe Taeil gave his blood so Jaehyunnie could have a friend. Wow. Funny how things work out that way.” 

Jaehyun’s hands tensed, feeling the plastic easily bend the second time. One day he was going to kill Yuta. One day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaehyun decided he quite liked how the human said his name.

It was two weeks later when Johnny finally texted Jaehyun.

Both Yuta and Sicheng looked at him in surprise when his phone beeped, signaling he’d received a message. Jaehyun ignored Yuta’s sly smile as he unlocked his phone and opened the text.

 

**_From: Unknown_ **

_ hey this is johnny _

_ we should probably start working on the project soon. _

 

Jaehyun watched as the grey bubble that Sicheng told him meant that someone was typing disappeared and reappeared several times. He waited patiently for Johnny to decide on whatever it was he was trying to type.

 

_ Let’s meet up this weekend. _

 

_ Hey, that sounds good. Saturday? _

_ Sure _

_ 3pm good for you? _

_ We’ll meet in the library. _

_ That’s good with me. _

_ See you in class. _

 

It took a minute of staring at his phone for Jaehyun to realize he wasn’t going to get a text back. He used to be able to wait months for a letter to arrive but now he felt even the slightest bit antsy when someone didn’t respond. If someone had done that back in his time it would have meant that they were dead.

“You got a date or something Jaehyunnie?” 

“No.” Jaehyun grumbled and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

It wasn’t long before Taeil joined them in the booth they were sitting in, sliding his food tray on the table.

Yuta sniffed. “I hate that food still smells good but doesn’t taste good anymore.”

“You’re not missing much,” Taeil poked at his rice and vegetables. “Four years here and I still refuse to eat any meat from this cafeteria. Don’t even get me started on why they shouldn’t name their soup of the day ‘Mystery Soup’.”

Sicheng grimaced but affectionately watched Taeil eat his food, resting his head in his hand. He reminded Jaehyun of a love sick puppy, and all the guy was doing was eating his vegetables.

Jaehyun turned to watch the hustle and bustle of the students around them in the campus cafeteria. October had barely begun and students were already surrounded by pages of notes and textbooks. Jaehyun was like that once, when he first went to college. But seeing as this was his third time, he had his strategy that worked.

His eyes scanned over the crowd, looking from student to student. His gaze locked with that of a small black haired boy, who’s eyes flitted over his table before picking up his tray and starting to walk over.

“You looking for someone in particular Jaehyunnie?” Yuta nudged him with his foot under the table.

“No,” Jaehyun quickly averted his gaze from the boy, hoping to discourage him but he could still hear the footsteps coming closer. “But someone’s coming over.”

Curious, Taeil turned, his cheeks full of rice. “Oh, that’s the guy I mentioned before.”

“What guy?” Yuta asked and Jaehyun found himself wondering the same thing.

“You know,” Taeil swallowed and began to whisper. “The one that’s into bloodplay.”

Jaehyun’s brows shot up as he recalled the quite humiliating conversation they’d had before, when discussing his future options. He was suddenly overcome with a bounty of questions for Taeil, like how much did this guy know about him? Was he just a freak or did he know about the existence of vampires? What exactly did this guy want?

He wasn’t able to get any of them out before the boy stood by their table, a smile on his face.

“Hi Taeil.”

“Hey,” Taeil beamed and gestured to the vampires he sat with. “Guys this is Ten - Ten, this is Sicheng, Yuta and Jaehyun.”

Sicheng and Yuta waved while Jaehyun simple nodded his head when Ten smiled at him.

“You guys aren’t hungry?” Ten cocked his head to the side, noting the absence of food in front of the three vampires and the one tray in front of Taeil.

Was he testing them? Jaehyun wondered. Or did he really not know?

“We ate earlier.” The lie slipped out expertly from Yuta’s mouth. He’d always been the best at it.

Ten nodded and Jaehyun couldn’t tell if he really believed it or not.

“Do you mind if I sit with you guys?”

Taeil looked over at Sicheng, who shrugged. “Yeah, sure, go ahead.”

Jaehyun noticed Ten had maneuvered himself to his side of the booth, so before the boy could squish himself in beside him, Jaehyun slipped out with an excuse that he needed to get something at the library.

“I’ll see you guys in class.” He nodded to Sicheng and Yuta before escaping the cafeteria.

In truth he hadn’t needed anything at the library, but he still made his way over there in effort to make his lie believable. He’d always had a lot more trouble doing it than Yuta or even Sicheng did.

He’d sat at one of the desks and occupied himself by reviewing his past notes for his neuroscience class. It wasn’t long before he was joined by Yuta and Sicheng once more. Taeil didn’t have a class until later that evening, Jaehyun guessed he was still with his friend Ten.

“Nice swerve.” Yuta snorted as he pulled up a chair to sit down in.

“Was it at least believable?” 

“You didn’t really give him much time to question it.” Sicheng sat on Jaehyun’s other side. “You just kind of ran.”

“I just don’t want him getting any ideas, okay?” Jaehyun sighed and Yuta rolled his eyes and poked the vampire’s shoulder.

“He’s not gonna get any ideas, he literally just met you. Maybe if you actually let people befriend you, you wouldn’t be all lonely and broody all the time.”

“I’m not broody.” Jaehyun turned to Sicheng, hurt. “Am I broody?”

Sicheng avoided his gaze, giving him his answer.

“I am  _ not  _ broody.”

“And yet you didn’t deny that you were lonely.” Yuta tapped his finger on his chin, watching Jaehyun curiously. “Much to think about.”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes and looked at the clock on his phone. It was already past the time he would usually be in class, waiting. “We should get going.”

It felt a little weird, entering class when most of it had been filled already, but Jaehyun got a little kick out of being the one to slide into his spot next to Johnny.

“For a second I thought you weren’t gonna show up.” He spoke, not even sparing a glance from his laptop.

“I said see you in class didn’t I?” Jaehyun found himself smiling as he took out his notebook from his bag and placed it in front of him. “I always keep my word.”

From the corner of his eye he saw the tall boy glance his way, but only for a second before looking back at the screen in front of him. 

Jaehyun didn’t say anymore and simply listened to Johnny’s heartbeat, still as erratic as always when Jaehyun could hear it. He began to wonder what Saturday with Johnny would be like. He was kind of looking forward to it.   
  
  
  


 

 

“Seems like everybody decided to come to the library today too.” Johnny groaned.

They were stood in the lobby, looking at all the students that filled the first floor of the library.

Jaehyun knew the possibility of them finding a quiet spot to work on their project was almost impossible. He could hear the amount of people that were in the library, working on various things, some students talking about mid-semester exams already happening.

But of course, Johnny couldn’t hear this, so the tall boy traveled up the stairs two at a time, checking all the floors until the seventh, when he was finally out of breath.

“Okay, looks like the library isn’t an option.” He panted and rested his hands on his knees. He looked up at Jaehyun, who hadn’t even broken a sweat. “How are you not tired?”

Jaehyun shrugged, trying to play it off. “I wasn’t the one leaping over stairs to get here.”

Johnny finally regained his breath and stood up straight. He seemed to want to say something before deciding not to, and he started heading back down the stairs. 

It was easy for Jaehyun to catch up to him. 

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“Let’s check if my dorm is free.”

They walked to the dorms in silence, but Jaehyun didn’t mind. It was almost comfortable, and it was certainly familiar. 

When they entered Johnny’s dorm building, Johnny lead him to the elevator.

“What, now you don’t wanna take the stairs?” Jaehyun commented as they entered and watched Johnny crack a small smile in his peripheral. 

“As soon as I get to the dorms I just hit peak laziness, so we’ll see if we get much done. That is if my roommate isn’t there.”

The elevator dinged when it reached the fourth floor, and Johnny lead Jaehyun down the hallway and to a door with the number 416 on it. The small square whiteboard posted beside the door was decorated, but it was unlike the ones Jaehyun had seen passing by.

There was a line drawn horizontally in the middle, with the name Taeyong written on the top, covered in designs and intricate drawings and colours, while the name Johnny was on the bottom, written in simplicity. Jaehyun noticed most other whiteboards had more… unity. Names were written as ‘Kun  _ and  _ Doyoung’, ‘Jungwoo  _ and _ Lucas’, with decorations surrounding both names, not split by a line.

Jaehyun was going to ask about it when he heard the heartbeat coming from the other side of the door, and Johnny opened it to reveal his roommate sitting on one of the beds, his laptop in between his neatly crossed legs.

“Oh, you’re here.” Jaehyun couldn’t quite figure out the tone in Johnny’s voice. His roommate didn’t even bother responding or looking up.

Jaehyun could see that the line on the whiteboard was just as visible in their room. The side Taeyong was on was neat, vibrant and highly customized, with hardly an imperfection. The other side, presumed to be Johnny’s, was darker, less personal, and a lot more messy.

Jaehyun thought back to Johnny’s initial eager friendliness when classes had started, yet somehow such a person didn’t get along with his roommate.

Was Johnny perhaps… a little lonely too?

“We could like, squish in here if you wanted, unless you have any other ideas on where we could go?” Johnny’s voice rose at the end of his words, clearly indicating he did not want to stay in his room while his roommate was there.

Luckily, Jaehyun knew a quiet place where there would be minimal disruptions, aside from the two nosy vampires that would also be there.

He smiled up at Johnny. “I have somewhere we could go.”   
  
  
  


 

 

Jaehyun suddenly felt self conscious with Johnny in his car as they drove from campus to Jaehyun’s house. He wrapped his hands over the dents on his steering wheel, hoping he wouldn’t notice or wonder on how a steering wheel could get dented. The last thing he wanted was questions he wouldn’t be able to make up an answer to.

“ _ Oh shit _ , Jaehyun brought Johnny over.” He heard Yuta gasp when they got out of the car, no doubt the vampires could hear Johnny’s heartbeat.

“Behave.” Jaehyun smiled to himself when Sicheng warned Yuta, who he could only imagine was pouting.

Jaehyun lead an amazed Johnny into his home, his mouth slightly agape.

“This place is  _ huge _ . You live here?”

“Me and two others.” Jaehyun nodded, and pointed to a mat where Johnny could leave his boots. “There is fine.”

“Hi, we’re the two others!” Yuta greeted when the two came into view. He sat on the couch watching TV with Taeil while Sicheng sat at their dining table with his laptop. “Oh, and plus boyfriend.” He wrapped his arm around Taeil who smiled warmly.

“Aren’t you guys in our neuro class too?” When Yuta nodded Johnny seemed more puzzled. “Then why don’t you all sit together?”

A wicked grin spread across Yuta’s face and Jaehyun flared his nostrils.

_ If you say anything embarrassing I will kill you. _

“Jaehyun just likes to be lonely that’s all.” The vampire ended up shrugging and putting his attention back to the TV.

Johnny turned to Jaehyun for an explanation, and Jaehyun couldn’t help but sigh. “They don’t like going as early as I do.”

“Oh.” Johnny’s eyes flicked up towards the ceiling as he thought. “Did I steal their spots the first day then?”

“Nope.” Yuta interjected though he still hadn’t torn his eyes away from the anime he was watching.

Jaehyun sighed once more, and began to walk towards his room. “C’mon, we won’t be able to get much done with this idiot near us.” Yuta let out a grumble while Johnny chuckled and followed Jaehyun.

Upon entering, Jaehyun dropped his bag on the floor and sunk himself into his beloved peach coloured bean bag chair.

Johnny stared at him. “Why do you have a bean bag chair in this day and age?”

“Bean bags are the greatest invention of all time.” He replied simply, implying that there was no room for discussion.

Johnny rolled his eyes but didn’t argue with him, instead taking a long look into Jaehyun’s room.

“You have…” Johnny’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of the towering bookcases that covered the length of one of the walls. “A  _ lot _ of books.”

“I like to read.” Jaehyun shrugged.

“Apparently.” Johnny sat himself down at the desk beside Jaehyun’s bed - which he didn’t actually sleep in and was mainly there for show, and pulled out his laptop. “Let’s get this over with.”   
  
  
  


 

 

It wasn’t until the evening when Jaehyun realized the problem with bringing Johnny over to a home resided by vampires.

He heard Johnny’s stomach growling long before the human even brought up the fact that he was hungry.

“Do you mind if I steal anything from your pantry?” Johnny asked, seemingly embarrassed that he was the one to mention food for the first time that evening. Though he would have no idea that Jaehyun wouldn’t ever feel hungry. For food at least.

“I’m not sure how much we have in our kitchen but we can check.” Jaehyun told the truth as much as he could. He really wasn’t sure how much human food they had in their kitchen. He didn’t know if they had any at all. He’d never even needed to be in the kitchen before.

He lead Johnny out of his bedroom and into the kitchen, where they passed by Sicheng in the living room, huddled on the couch now, playing video games while Yuta and Taeil cuddled and watched.

“Hey, do we have any food for Johnny to eat?” Jaehyun asked, trying to come off as nonchalantly as possible.

Yuta and Sicheng glanced at each other, worried, while Taeil turned his head to look at the two in the kitchen. “There should be some cup noodles in the cupboard above the stove.”

Jaehyun sent the other human a grateful smile before reaching up and grabbing a cup of noodles and handing it to Johnny.

“Are you not going to have one?” Johnny took the liberty of filling up the kettle with water and pressing the boil button. Jaehyun was thankful he had done that himself, seeing as the vampire had never had to use the kettle - which was probably only in the kitchen because of Taeil anyway. He filed another little note away in his head to thank him later.

“I’m not hungry.” Jaehyun said truthfully.

Johnny cocked his head to the side before mumbling to himself. “Of course I’m the only one who’s hungry.”

It wasn’t long before the kettle beeped and steam blew from the top, signaling the water was done boiling. Johnny ripped the seasoning packets open and dumped them into the cup and then poured the water on top. He carefully brought the steaming cup to the dinning table where he sat down and he covered the cup’s lid with chopsticks while it cooked.

“He’s settled in nicely hasn’t he?” Jaehyun heard Yuta mutter under his breath so low it was likely that Taeil hadn’t even heard him.

Jaehyun clenched and unclenched his fist before sitting in the chair next to Johnny. They sat in silence, both watching the TV screen in the distance as Sicheng won another match of Overwatch, while Jaehyun also listened to the eccentric beating of Johnny’s heart that had seemed to calm down while they were working, but had now picked up pace again.

“Do you ever play Overwatch with him?” Johnny cleared his throat and stared at his noodles.

“Sometimes we take turns playing.” He wasn’t very good at it, he could barely figure out how a cell phone worked, not to mention a video game controller. He definitely wasn’t going to buy his own gaming console just to play against Sicheng and make himself feel even more like a fool.

“Oh, he’s absolutely terrible.” Yuta interjected. Johnny looked up in surprise and mumbled to himself. “I didn’t think I was speaking that loudly.”

Yuta continued as if he didn’t hear. “But he’s also  _ very _ competitive, so it’s hilarious to watch him fail.”

“Wait,” Johnny was in the middle of bringing the noodles up to his mouth to eat but paused. “You’re bad at video games?”

Jaehyun turned to him. “You sound so surprised.”

“You just don’t seem like someone who would be bad at anything.”

“Really?” Jaehyun’s lips split into a smile while Johnny finally shoved the noodles into his mouth, a slight red tinge to his cheeks. “I do?”

“I can assure you that aura will fade away the moment you see him pick up a controller.” Yuta snickered from the couch, earning a small playful push from Taeil.

“We have a project to work on Yuta.” Jaehyun rolled his eyes but then looked back to Johnny, who seemed a bit disappointed. Jaehyun didn’t like that he had put that frown there. “Unless… you want to finish it another day?”

“Just like, one game.” Johnny insisted, a slight sparkle in his eye. He really did want to see Jaehyun make a fool of himself, didn’t he? He supposed he deserved it for being so mean in the beginning.

“Fine.” Jaehyun sighed dramatically but his lips were curved into a slight smile.

It didn’t take long for Johnny to slurp up all of his noodles and dispose of the cup, and the next thing Jaehyun knew they were sitting on the ground with Sicheng, the controller in Jaehyun’s hands.

“Just please,” Sicheng groaned, staring at the screen warily. “Don’t mess up my stats  _ too _ much.”

Not surprisingly to everyone in the room - except perhaps Johnny - Jaehyun was utterly crushed during his match.

“Wow,” Johnny’s brows had shot up before turning to Jaehyun. “You really are bad.”

Jaehyun had to remind himself that being able to crush a plastic controller to smithereens was not a normal human thing to do. He gently placed the controller on the ground in front of him, and Sicheng quickly snatched it before anything bad could happen.

“And you could do better?” Jaehyun had to stop himself before his words got too harsh. He had  hundreds of books and information at his fingertips from all his years of being a vampire, it’s not his fault he never caught up on the electronic trends. And yet somehow he still wanted to pursue a future degree in Artificial Intelligence. He questioned his own mind sometimes.

Thankfully, Johnny seemed to like the challenge. He smirked and leaned his arm over Jaehyun, palm open for Sicheng to put the controller in it.

Jaehyun decided he kind of liked seeing Johnny playful. It was better than when he was ignoring him.

His smile faded when his eyes traced over the blue vein in Johnny’s arm that was leaned over him, pumping with blood. It was going to start soon. His hunger. He quickly looked at the screen and only relaxed once Johnny had retracted his arm, the controller delivered to him.

But it wasn’t quite time to feed yet, so Jaehyun was easily able to push the horrific thought of sinking his fangs into his project partner’s arm away for now.

Johnny, to no one’s surprise, was a lot better at video games than Jaehyun was.

He would have thought that having added strength, speed, and better vision would have helped him, but he was a lost cause. Jaehyun was just really bad at video games.   
  
  
  


 

 

One game, Johnny had said. One game and then they’d go back to working on the project.

No one had realized how late it was until Taeil yawned, causing the only other human in the room, Johnny, to yawn as well.

“Oh, shit.” Johnny glanced at his watch. “When the hell did it get to midnight?”

“We didn’t even finish our project.” Jaehyun smiled, mainly to himself. Johnny had somehow managed to easily fit in with three vampires and one human, all without knowing their collective secret.

“Oh shit.” Johnny repeated. “I should probably get going.”

Jaehyun stood up, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll drive you.”

“It was nice meeting you Johnny.” Taeil smiled sleepily from Yuta’s arms. Johnny got to his feet and smiled back.

“Yeah, don’t be a stranger.” Yuta’s usual mysterious grin was gone, replaced by one with sincerity. Jaehyun wondered what was going through his mind.

Sicheng simply smiled and waved before going back and concentrating on another game of Overwatch.

Johnny said goodbye to Jaehyun’s friends, a ghost of a hopeful smile on his face. Jaehyun thought back to a comment he had said a while ago - when he had accepted Jaehyun’s offer to do the project together. _ ‘Ah fuck it, I have no other friends’ _ \- Had this been the first time during the year Johnny had properly hung out with people?

The drive back to Johnny’s dorm was quiet - which Jaehyun didn’t mind, the roads weren’t too busy anyway so it was a lot faster to get back than it had been to get to Jaehyun’s place earlier that afternoon.

He pulled up into the visitor’s parking space right outside Johnny’s dorm and unlocked the car door. He glanced at the human in his car when he heard him hesitate.

“Uh, thanks.” Johnny said, though it seemed like he wanted to say more.

“No problem.” Jaehyun properly smiled at him, though Johnny quickly looked away. There was a pause before Jaehyun continued. “Looks like we’ll have to meet up again to finish the project.”

“Yeah,” Johnny smiled now, holding onto his backpack in his lap. “And maybe, I don’t know, I have an excuse to make you less lonely now?”

Jaehyun’s lips split into a grin and he chuckled. He didn’t know whether he was going to smack Yuta or - actually, that was redundant. He was going to hit Yuta no matter what when he got home.

“Yes, you do.”

At Jaehyun’s smile, Johnny seemed a little more sure of himself. He nodded, grinned back, and got out of the car.

“Bye Jaehyun, see you later.” He said rather softly before closing the door. Jaehyun watched him enter his dorm and take a look back at the vampire’s car before fully disappearing into the building.

“See you later, Johnny.”

Jaehyun decided he quite liked how the human said his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is sticking with this ♥ i promise it will get finished ! 
> 
> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaehyun tries just a taste.

"Hey."

"Hey." Jaehyun smiled as Johnny slid into the seat next to him.

"Are we still on to work on the project after this?" Johnny asked, pulling out his laptop from his bag and placing it on the desk.

"Yeah of course."

Jaehyun heard a scoff, and then a whisper from Yuta that only he and Sicheng could hear. "Well there goes our ride."

"You either run home or wait for me." Jaehyun muttered back and he watched Yuta shake his head in disgust from the other side of the classroom.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Johnny looked towards Jaehyun who quickly shook his head. "No - sorry, just - thinking out loud."

Class passed by quickly, a lot more so now that Jaehyun had Johnny to talk to in between pauses. Johnny would often have questions or clarifications on what Professor Seulgi had said, and would lean over to read Jaehyun's clear and quick writing to see what he'd missed.

"I don't understand how you write so neatly and don't even miss anything she says." Johnny whispered, in awe, his fingers clacking away on his keys even while looking at Jaehyun's notes.

"Practice?" Jaehyun whispered back. Omitting the truth wasn't actually lying, right? He didn't have to say that he'd been practising for longer than the college had been established.

Once class had officially been dismissed, Johnny and Jaehyun walked together to the library, though the influx of other students walking from their classes made it difficult to stay side-by-side.

If Jaehyun were to walk in the hallways by himself, his presence alone would make people part the way, very few people would bump into him. Jaehyun liked it, mainly because if he would bump into anyone they would be a lot more hurt than he would.

But Johnny made Jaehyun look small, and it seemed his height made him the more intimidating one out of the two, (Jaehyun wondered if they saw his fangs if they would still bump into him.) so Jaehyun ended up just following behind Johnny.

It did feel a bit strange, to have Johnny leading him like that, Jaehyun occasionally peeking out from over Johnny's shoulder to see if the way was clear and he could walk by his side again. It seemed that Johnny was used to this kind of thing happening with whoever he walked with.

They found a desk in the basement of the library, tucked into one of the corners, few people around for fewer distractions.

Though as it turned out, Jaehyun was just as distracting to Johnny as the human was to the vampire. But there was only so much Jaehyun could deflect in order to not lie to him.

"Favourite snack?" Johnny asked, while looking over his laptop, pretending to work. He'd stopped typing anything a half hour ago.

Jaehyun shrugged. 

"Oh c'mon," Johnny groaned. "Don't tell me you don't have a favourite go-to study snack. Are you even human?"

If Jaehyun could sweat he would have in that moment. "I just don't snack when I study!"

Johnny ' _ hmph _ '-ed and went back to looking at his laptop, though Jaehyun noticed he still wasn't typing or clicking on anything.

"What's _ your _ favourite snack then?"

"Hot Cheetos." Johnny stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Especially dipped in whipped cream cheese. Oh my god, amazing."

When Jaehyun didn't give an adequate reaction back, Johnny pushed his laptop to the side so he could look at Jaehyun clearly. "Oh my god, you've never had Hot Cheetos have you?"

Jaehyun shook his head. He didn't even know what Cheetos were.

"Oh my god, what century did you come from?!"

Jaehyun had to stop himself from wincing audibly.

"I'm bringing Hot Cheetos for you to try, holy shit. I can't believe. A whole life without Hot Cheetos. No wonder you were grumpy when I first met you."

"I wasn't grumpy."

Johnny raised one of his brows.

"Okay. Maybe a little."

It was safe to say that not much work as they had hoped to get done was done. But Jaehyun was also relieved. It was... nice to spend time with someone other than the two vampires he'd known for centuries already. He learned a lot. He learned that Johnny had come from out of town and had moved to a completely new city on his own.

Jaehyun knew what that was like, but he'd still always had at least Sicheng. He admired Johnny for that.

They packed up their stuff and Jaehyun walked with Johnny, as the human still had another class that evening. Before they left the library though, Johnny ended up stopping them.

"Hey, I have a question."

Johnny - who Jaehyun had noticed, his heart had become steadier and steadier the more time they spent together. Less erratic, but still stronger than a regular human. Jaehyun heard it pick up the pace right before Johnny spoke to him.

"What's up?" Jaehyun turned to look at Johnny, who was looking anywhere but him.

"There's just this Halloween party I've been invited to, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to come with." Johnny shrugged, trying to play it off.

"I'm not really a party guy - " Which was true, he wasn't. Parties reminded him of hunting and that meant feeding and it was also right in the front of his mind that his month was almost up and he would have to eat soon. Perhaps a party wasn't a good idea, considering what happened at the last one.

"Right, right," Johnny ran a hand through his hair. Jaehyun got a whiff of coconut shampoo. He liked it. "I just figured, since I saw you at that other one -"

"The one where I got punched?"

Johnny paused and pursed his lips. "Yeah. Never mind. I'll stop talking."

Jaehyun didn't know what possessed him to do it, but he smiled and waved it off. "It's fine, I'll go. Do you mind if I bring Sicheng, Yuta and Taeil? They like parties." Though it was for different reasons than Johnny would be able to guess.

The grin that split Johnny's face was what made his decision to go worth it. "Yeah of course. Awesome... I can't wait."

"You're going to be late for class if we just keep standing here." 

Johnny, startled, looked at the clock on his phone. "Oh, shit you're right. I'll see you later?"

"I can walk you to class." Jaehyun started walking without Johnny, not even pausing when he looked back. "We already know I'm good at keeping up with you."

It was hard not to notice the rapid increase in heart palpitations as Johnny followed. Jaehyun wondered if he still had a working heart if it would be the same. He didn't know what he wanted the answer to that to be.   
  
  


 

 

Jaehyun was thankful he'd arranged his schedule so that he had at least one day where he didn't have to be on campus. He loved going to school but sometimes he just needed that rest day.

Not that his body needed to rest at all. It was perfectly capable at functioning at 100% for a very long time. Perks of being a vampire. But he still enjoyed lounging around in his precious bean bag chair, reading a book and maybe, just maybe, replaying some conversations in his head that he'd had with Johnny.

His peaceful moments to himself were interrupted when Sicheng walked in to his room, a frown etched on to his face.

"What's got you thinking so hard?" Jaehyun looked up from the book he had been skimming over. He'd already read it four times.

"Have you thought about feeding at all? Have you thought about contacting Ten?" If Sicheng had put his hands on his hips he'd look like a nagging mother. He certainly sounded like one.

"I'm fine, there's still time left until I have to feed." Which was true, Jaehyun had a little more than a week before he would descend to madness if he didn't feed again.

Sicheng crossed his arms over his chest. Now he looked like a disapproving mother. "I don't like that you're hanging out with Johnny, a human, and you're going to go so long without feeding."

"Nothing's going to happen."

"We can hear his heartbeat too you know. If that can make _ us _ go crazy then what will it do to you? You've already exploded at him once."

He had a point there. Jaehyun sighed and fully put his book down. "Okay, I'll... tell Taeil to contact Ten or something. I guess that's my only option."

Sicheng seemed satisfied with that, so he went to leave Jaehyun's room before stopping at the door and turning back around. "You know... You could always ask Johnny..."

Jaehyun gave his friend a dangerous look. "No," There was no way. "Johnny has no idea what we are and I'm going to keep it that way. He needs a friend by his side, not a leech on his skin."

Sicheng scrunched his nose, disgusted at the term Jaehyun had used to describe them and their nature. "While it's nice you're finally letting yourself have a friend, I don't think you give him enough credit." He said, and stalked off, leaving Jaehyun to ponder over whatever the hell that might mean.   
  
  


 

 

"Hey."

"Hey." Jaehyun greeted Johnny as the human sat next to him, as per their usual routine when having class together. "You're still coming over after this right?"

"Of course," Johnny smiled. "I need to beat your ass in another video game, don't I?"

Jaehyun narrowed his eyes. "Cute, but we're finishing the project. Me redeeming my video gaming skills can come later." Johnny laughed as Jaehyun scoffed exaggeratedly. "I could destroy you doing anything else."

Johnny wiggled his brows. "Oh? Tell me more."

The vampire froze. He'd walked into that one. Was Johnny genuinely curious about what Jaehyun could beat him at or was he trying to be suggestive and implying that Jaehyun should flirt with him? Either way it was too late because Jaehyun was thinking about his hands on Johnny's golden skin and feeling that little jitter of excitement he hadn't let himself feel in a long time.

"Err, sorry... that was..." Johnny cheeks were red and he was staring at his laptop screen. Jaehyun could hear Yuta snickering from the other side of the classroom. He wanted everyone to disappear into dust in that moment. 

"It's fine." Jaehyun choked out. He was thinking about what it would be like to have Johnny's lips on different places of his cold skin. He wouldn't ever feel the warmth but he'd at least be able to feel... them. He really had to think about something else before it got the better of him. "I walked into that one."

"Yeah, you did." Johnny mumbled, though Jaehyun was sure he wasn't meant to hear it.

The car ride home wasn't as awkward as Jaehyun dreaded it would be. Yuta was ever the chatterbox he was, always finding something to talk to Johnny about while Sicheng just listened and laughed at whatever was funny. It was weird to have all of them in his car, Jaehyun thought. He wonder what Johnny would think if he knew he was in a car with three vampires. Would he feel safe? Or would he not care? The questions burned in Jaehyun's mind until he forced them out when they arrived home.

When they got settled in Jaehyun's room, Jaehyun in his bean bag chair and Johnny at his desk, the first thing the human pulled out was a bag of Hot Cheetos.

"You're trying these." He threw the bag at Jaehyun, who caught it in one hand. Johnny dug back into his backpack again and pulled out a tub of whipped cream cheese.

Jaehyun laughed. Johnny really was insistent on this. It was kind of... cute. He didn't know if he could actually break it to him that Jaehyun wouldn't be able to taste it, ever. Even just the thought broke his non-beating heart a little bit.

He placed the bag of Hot Cheetos beside him, on the ground. "How about, as a victory for finishing our project, I'll taste it." He didn't know the difference of not being able to lie about the taste in the moment or later, but he could at least put it off for now. Maybe Johnny would forget about it once they'd finished.

That was a false hope. Johnny would never forget about his favourite snack, Jaehyun hadn't known him for long but this was one thing he was sure of.

"Fine." Johnny pouted. "But after we're done, we're playing video games and eating Hot Cheetos. Wow, it's my childhood all over again."

It didn't take them long to finally finish the project. They had prolonged the actual work needed to get done because they had been so caught up in getting to know each other, in having a friend they could laugh with. (and on Jaehyun's end, one that wouldn't nag him about when he had to eat and another who wouldn't stop making fun of everything he did.) Which meant that all their work had been done in small pieces, and they had only one final piece to put together to be finished.

Johnny had assembled together all their writing into an essay, and had passed over his laptop to Jaehyun to look it over. Jaehyun could hear the incessant tapping of the human's foot as he sat at Jaehyun's desk, while the vampire tried looking over their words carefully.

"Johnny." He looked over the laptop and Johnny seemed lost for a moment, gulping as he made eye contact with Jaehyun before finally realizing he had been bouncing his knee up and down like a nervous maniac.

"Oh," Johnny's cheeks went red. They did that a lot. Jaehyun wondered why. "Sorry." He stopped bouncing his leg.

But now it was the pounding of his heart that Jaehyun could hear, over and over, a bass drum that he began to feel in his skin as he kept on reading. He powered through, it's not like he could just tell Johnny to keep his heart quiet for a minute. That would be weird on a number of different levels.

"I think..." Jaehyun started, glancing over to Johnny once more.

"You think...?" Johnny's eyebrows raised with his words, anticipating.

Jaehyun grinned. "I think we're finished our project."

"Yes!" Johnny exclaimed, launching his arms in the air as a cry of victory but getting his hand caught on the corner of Jaehyun's desk. He winced, his free hand immediately clutching onto the one that was in pain. "Ah, fuck." He looked up at Jaehyun with a smile. "Of course my clumsy-ness comes out now. My elegant cover has been blown."

Jaehyun couldn't smile. He couldn't even look in Johnny's eyes. He stared at the tiny droplet of blood that had escaped from the scrape on Johnny's hand. It was all he could smell in the air, that beautiful metallic scent, combined with the pounding bass of Johnny's heart. Jaehyun knew he would taste amazing.

"Jaehyun?" Johnny moved his hand, trying to get the vampire's attention. "Are you - Are you afraid of blood? It's just a little bit, it's not bad. Definitely had worse -"

Jaehyun had gotten to his feet now. He could feel his incisors trying their hardest to push out of his gums, the strain he felt on his face was almost painful. He was hungry.

"Jaehyun." The voice that spoke was commanding, and it pried Jaehyun's attention away from the small scrape on Johnny's hand. Sicheng was in his room now, standing beside Johnny. 

"Jaehyun." He repeated again. Jaehyun felt his body start to relax. What was happening to him? He wasn't supposed to feel hungry, not yet.

"Yuta needs help with the insurance claim on his car. Could you go help him?" Sicheng turned to Johnny. "Johnny. I'll drive you home, okay?"

"I - uh - Sure?" Johnny looked from Sicheng to Jaehyun, visibly confused as to what the hell was going on.

Jaehyun managed to ease his face into a non-threatening smile. "It's fine. We're done the project. We'll have to play games another night. I’ll save the Cheetos"

Johnny, seemingly satisfied that Jaehyun wasn't just ending their friendship after they had finished the project, (though Jaehyun was certain that's probably what he'd been thinking) gathered his things into his bag, but not before quickly putting his mouth on his hand and getting rid of that small droplet of blood Jaehyun had almost lost his mind over.

_ Lucky _ , the vampire found himself thinking.

He said bye and Sicheng escorted Johnny out of Jaehyun's room, giving him a pointed look behind the human's back. It was his version of  _ 'I told you so' _ .

Jaehyun waited until he heard the car pulling out of the driveway to slowly approach his desk. He knew Yuta didn't actually need his help, he didn't even own a car to have an insurance claim on.

He knelt down and examined the corner of his desk, and the tiniest little red splotch that hadn't been there before. Jaehyun took a shaky breath. He shouldn't be doing this.

But he wanted to.

He wanted to so badly.

He stuck his tongue out and pressed it against the corner of his desk. Just the smallest taste felt like electricity travelling down his entire body. He felt pathetic the moment he pulled away, though he still couldn't help but savour the taste.

Jaehyun was right.

Johnny did taste amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	6. VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny shrugged. "You just give off major vampire vibes."

In hindsight, Jaehyun should have locked the bathroom door behind them.

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have asked Taeil to make sure Ten would be at the same Halloween party that Johnny had invited him to.

In hindsight, he definitely should have realized what it would look like when Johnny barged into the bathroom in a drunken stupor to see Jaehyun latched onto Ten's neck, with Ten looking like he was having the time of his goddamn life.

Apparently being 300 years old did not mean he would accumulate a bounty of wisdom to help him. In fact, Jaehyun felt pretty fucking stupid. But that didn't explain the feeling of wanting to throw up (even though he hadn't eaten actual food in years) because of all the guilt he was trying to swallow before chasing after the fleeing Johnny.

In all of his years, Jaehyun had never felt dumber. Or more human.

  
  


 

 

"What are you going to dress up as for the party?" Johnny asked, his fingers stilling over his laptop keyboard. He was sitting across from Jaehyun, in the booth in the corner of the library that had become their regular studying spot.

"I don't know yet." Jaehyun had stopped dressing up for Halloween forty years ago. "What about you?"

"I haven't had time to do anything original this year." Johnny sighed, a slight pout on his face. He obviously looked forward to Halloween a lot. "I think I might just go as Where's Waldo this year. I have the hat and shirt already."

Jaehyun had no idea who Where's Waldo was but it seemed like a simple enough costume by Johnny's description. He made a mental note to look it up later.

"What do you think I should be?" Jaehyun rested his elbows on the desk and put his head into his hands. He watched Johnny still and blink at him for a moment before he pushed his laptop to the side and imitated the vampire's pose.

His eyes draped over every one of Jaehyun's facial features. His brows, his cheekbones, the bridge of his nose. Jaehyun thought it was a bit excessive, but also couldn't deny the jolt of electricity he felt when Johnny's gaze fell to his lips before meeting his eyes again.

Though it was instantly shoved away when Johnny opened his mouth. "I think you should be a vampire."

Jaehyun tried to not let his smile falter. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

Johnny shrugged. "You just give off major vampire vibes. You're also just, really fucking cold all the time, it's hard to believe your heart is still beating in there."

If Jaehyun had an actual, properly working heart he's sure it would have dropped so far into hell it would have instantly fried to a crisp. Ironically enough, it was one of the things he missed about being alive. He blamed it on being around Johnny so much lately, he wished he could feel that pounding of his heart because sometimes Johnny did this thing when he laughed, where his eyes would go into crescent moons and he'd have these lines appear on his chin and Jaehyun knew for a fact that his heart would have fluttered at that.

Not that he had feelings or anything.

He supposed the crack of electricity he felt when sometimes looking a little too long at Johnny's lips was good enough for now. At least the undead could still get horny.

Not that he was horny for Johnny.

Because he didn't have feelings.

Not that you have to have feelings to be horny for someone -  _ Ugh  _ \- You get it, right?

"I'll pretend like I'm not offended." Jaehyun had gotten a lot better at playing off some of the things Johnny said now. At least he wasn't lying. He was a bad liar. "But maybe I'll take that suggestion. I probably look really good in fangs."

Okay - maybe he had been upping the flirting game too, but Johnny made it  _ so _ much more fun because it turned out he also got really flustered, which made it an even playing ground for the both of them.

"Oof, Edward Cullen who?" Johnny bit his lip. "I only know Jung Jaehyun."

And that was true. Johnny only knew Jaehyun, he didn't know Yoonoh, or Jeffery, or any of the other lives he'd lived.

It was enough to make the vampire sober up a bit.

  
  


 

 

Jaehyun hadn't really wanted to go to another party so soon after the first disaster of the school year, but here he was, entering some stranger's house dressed in a dumb cape with two small trails of fake blood down the sides of his mouth. He would have put on fake fangs too but he was going to be feeding tonight and they would have just gotten in the way.

He arrived with Yuta, Sicheng and Taeil. Yuta was dressed as some sort of anime character, Sicheng as someone from a video game Jaehyun didn't know either, while Taeil adorned the traditional Gryffindor Hogwarts robes. At least Jaehyun knew that.

Jaehyun decided to at least enjoy himself before he got to... feeding. He didn't want to stick around after that was done so he figured he could at least hang out with Johnny before he had to go and find Ten, who - according to Taeil - was more than excited that Jaehyun was following through.

The house was packed with people, but it wasn't hard to pick out where Johnny was. His heartbeat had become familiar to Jaehyun, even when he heard it at different rates, it was still -  _ well _ \- Johnny.

"Hey, you found me!" Johnny cheered when Jaehyun sidled up to him. His eyes sparkled with amusement, making Jaehyun think he'd made a joke that the vampire wasn't going to understand so he simply smiled back. "I did."

"Shit." Johnny brought a red plastic cup to his lips. He was wearing blue jeans, a red and white striped shirt with round glasses and a hat to match. It was obvious by the stench on his breath that he'd already downed a couple of drinks. "You really do look good as a vampire." Paired with that erratic heartbeat of his, Jaehyun wondered if Johnny had been nervous before he got there.

"Thank you." Jaehyun smiled, as ironic as the comment was. "I decided to forgo the glitter on my body though."

"Trust me," Johnny took another swig of his drink and looked him down head to toe. "You'd look good with anything on  _ or  _ off your body."

Jaehyun bit his lip to stop himself from smiling. Johnny's cheeks were already a delectable rose colour, and Jaehyun wondered if this was close to how Johnny would look like, sexed out, underneath -

_ Okay. _ He had to stop there before he would have to excuse himself and that would be a little weird because he’d just gotten to the party.

"Oh  _ god _ , just fuck him" He heard Yuta mutter over the loud, pounding music, somewhere amongst the throngs of people at the party. Jaehyun glared in any direction, hoping that Yuta saw him from wherever he was.

"You wanna be my beer pong partner?" Johnny hooked his arm around Jaehyun's and the vampire let himself be pulled to a table filled with red plastic cups. Jaehyun had been to enough parties to know what beer pong was, he'd seen its inception and though he had heightened senses and reflexes to aid him, he knew he was damn good at it too.

He never missed a shot, and if the other team ever landed the ping pong ball in one of their cups, it was easy to down the alcohol in them because he couldn't actually taste or be affected by it.

Johnny draped himself over Jaehyun's shoulders. "Mmkay," he slurred over his words. "How 'bout youuuu do all the throwin', n' I do aaaall the drinkin'."

"You're already drunk and doing all the drinking, Johnny." Jaehyun turned his head to look at Johnny, who was resting his chin on the vampire's shoulder, with absolutely the cutest pout in the entire world. Johnny's eyes flicked down to stare at Jaehyun's lips, and the vampire became acutely aware of how close their faces were to each other.

"Get a room!" Someone from the other side of the table jeered. Jaehyun managed to tear his gaze away from Johnny and throw the ping pong ball straight into one of the cups on the other side of the table, earning a cheer from the crowd that had begun to surround them.

One of the guys they were playing against downed the drink in no time, slamming it on the floor and holding up the ping pong ball. "Alright!" He was also, very much drunk at that point. "If I make this shot, you two -" He gestured to Jaehyun and then Johnny, who was still perched on his shoulder, looking at the vampire's lips, his heartbeat going 100 miles an hour. "- Have to kiss, because you're absolutely fuckin' killing me with your tension across from here, like fuck."

Jaehyun heard Johnny's breath hitch from beside him. Jaehyun didn't say anything, he just watched his competitor throw the ball. He thought about catching it, because he could if he wanted to - but  _ did _ he want to? Not really. Maybe he'd always wanted an excuse to kiss Johnny and this was his chance, which is why he let the ball plop into one of their red cups.

The crowd around them cheered and began to chant. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

There was a small voice in the back of Jaehyun's head, telling him not to, telling him that this was a bad idea, but Jaehyun was so overwhelmed with the fact that he'd finally accepted he wanted to kiss Johnny that he ignored it.

He took the ping pong ball out of the cup and brought the drink to his lips, completely aware of everyone's eyes on him, especially Johnny's, whose gaze seemed to burn into his face. Johnny had started to detach himself from Jaehyun's shoulders, his arm slowly slipping away, but that only made Jaehyun's nerves get more excited as he felt the hand trail down his backside.

Alcohol didn't taste like anything to the vampire, it didn't affect him whatsoever but he pretended it was a shot of liquid courage as he downed it, crushing the cup in his hand and throwing it on the ground, his hand going straight to the back of Johnny's head and pushing him down to meet their lips together.

Electricity coursed through him as Johnny immediately parted his lips, letting Jaehyun slip his tongue in and explore as their mouths moved together. Jaehyun could hear cheering but it was drowned out, all he could concentrate on was Johnny's breathy gasps and the pounding of the human's heart. Jaehyun felt the buzzing, right at his core. He may not have had his sense of taste anymore but he still had a very active bundle of nerves that worked inside him, making him want more. He still very much had his sense of desire.

But then the electric current travelled up, into his stomach, and shot straight to his mouth, where his incisors had begun to poke out ever so slightly from his gums, eager to take a bite.

Jaehyun broke the kiss with the excuse to breathe, trying to cover up the fact that he was now terrified at what he had done, at how he could be so stupid. He should have listened to the voice at the back of his head before, because it was taking every inch of sheer will he had accumulated over the years to step back and not stick his fangs into that long, beautiful neck of Johnny's.

The memory of that single droplet of blood he'd so desperately licked not long ago played over and over again in his mind, he could almost still taste it.

"I just have to go to the bathroom." Jaehyun whispered. "I'll be right back."

"Mmkay," Johnny seemed dazed. "Come back quick 'cause you know I'll make us lose."

Jaehyun turned around without a second thought because he needed to find Ten, he needed to feed. His mind played with the idea of feeding on Johnny but he pushed it as far away as he possibly could. Jaehyun couldn't do that to him, and he was pretty sure Johnny would let Jaehyun do anything to him while he was drunk, so it was better to just stay as far away from that as possible, lest Jaehyun be tempted. 

Because oh, he was  _ so  _ tempted.

It didn't take long to find Ten, dressed as a black cat, talking to a bright red haired boy, who Jaehyun recognized as Johnny's roommate Taeyong. Without words he slinked his arm around Ten's shoulders and pulled him away, guiding him to the closest bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

Ten, thankfully adequately drunk, was already panting in anticipation. "Don't worry," He breathed. "I won't tell anyone about your blood kink."

Jaehyun resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At least he knew now that Ten didn't know what he really was, though at this point he was wondering how no one seemed to know at all.

He took no time in getting what he wanted, what he needed. At least Ten had agreed to this, it made him feel a lot better about taking blood from someone who wasn't fully aware of the circumstances. He gently pressed his lips to the base of Ten's neck before feeling his incisors fully pop out of his gums, and he sunk them into Ten's skin.

Ten let out a gasp, relaxing into Jaehyun's grip as the vampire had him pressed against the wall. Blood splashed into Jaehyun's mouth, colouring his insides and it felt so fucking good, tasted so fucking good, but a part of him was disappointed because  _ fuck  _ he wished so bad that it was Johnny he was drinking from.

It was as if his thoughts summoned the devil himself, because the next thing he knew he was chasing after Johnny as the human stumbled away, apologizing for intruding. It would have been easy to catch up but Jaehyun had to make sure his teeth had slipped back into his gums and that his eyes had gone back to brown before grabbing Johnny's wrist right outside the house.

"Johnny, wait!" Jaehyun let Johnny tear himself from the vampire's grip. He didn't want to hurt him accidentally.

"Leave me 'lone." Johnny mumbled, almost falling over as he tried to keep walking away. Jaehyun moved to steady him but Johnny only flinched back.

"Johnny, please talk to me." Jaehyun wasn't going to let himself ruin their friendship again, he thought he already had before it had even started, when he'd snapped. It always happened because he was feeding, because he was a goddamn vampire. This just wasn't fucking fair.

Jaehyun turned Johnny around to face him, but Johnny couldn't look him in the eye as he tried to stumble backwards. "M' sorry I intruded... your intimacy or whatev'... but if you wanted to go -  _ hicc - _ the party with someone else you coulda tol' me!"

"Johnny, I only wanted to go with you." The absolute truth. If only he had the actions to back it up.

Johnny swiped his hands in the air, as if pushing Jaehyun's words away. He turned back around and started to stagger away from the party, in the general direction of the college.

"Johnny, let me drive you home."

"No."

"Johnny, it's dangerous to walk home like this, you're drunk!"

"I don' care!"

_ Well I do _ , Jaehyun thought to himself. He waited until Johnny had stumbled a decent distance away before following behind him, his footsteps silent. He wouldn't dare let Johnny put himself in danger, Jaehyun would never have forgiven himself if he did.

He observed their surroundings carefully, listening for anything that might prevent Johnny from getting home safely. Johnny was two-thirds of the way to his dorm when he stopped. "Jaehyun?" He called out.

The vampire halted, stunned. He debated on whether or not he should respond, but was instantly by Johnny's side when he saw the human falter, catching him right before he hit the pavement.

"I'm right here." Jaehyun hoped his voice was reassuring. He hoisted Johnny up onto his back, adjusting until the much larger human was being carried piggyback-style by the strong vampire. 

Johnny's arms hugged around Jaehyun's neck as the vampire firmly gripped his legs and continued to walk towards the dorms. "Thank you." Johnny whispered.

Jaehyun said nothing but he felt Johnny tuck his nose into the vampire's neck and sigh deeply.

"You're so cold." Johnny's lips moved against Jaehyun's skin, but the vampire resisted the urge to shiver at the sensation. If he would have done it an hour ago Jaehyun would have gone absolutely crazy - with hunger or lust, he wasn't sure - but now he had one goal in his mind, and that was to get Johnny home safe, and tucked into bed.

It took little to no effort to get Johnny to the dorms and into his room, thankfully empty since his roommate had also been at the party. Jaehyun carefully let Johnny slide off his back and plop into his bed, making sure the human laid on his side, just in case. He removed Johnny's hat and fake round glasses, and then made sure to take off his shoes too, throwing them onto the floor.

Jaehyun couldn't stop himself, he lowered his hand on Johnny's head and trailed it down, to his cheek, to his shoulder, and down his arm. "Rest well." He said, the smallest hint of a smile playing at his cheeks. He knew Johnny would have a killer hangover in the morning.

He let Johnny catch his hand in his, and the human brought it up to his face again, pressing his lips to Jaehyun's palm. "Thank you." He mumbled into the skin, his eyes already closed.

Jaehyun carefully pulled his hand away and drew Johnny's thin covers over his body. He took one last long look at the human before leaving the dorms with a smile on his face.

He didn't know if Johnny would remember what happened that night in the morning. He didn't know if would ever talk to him again if he did remember.

But what Jaehyun finally did know was that he totally had feelings for John Suh the human.

And maybe he was okay with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh,,,, how do you guys feel if i change that mature rating to an explicit one ? owo
> 
> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red eyes. Sharp teeth. Jaehyun.
> 
> Vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning; we dabble in some nsfw material now !
> 
> also, near the end it gets a little gross, but i hope that it's not too much for anyone to handle ! (its not nsfw related)

Johnny groaned, covering his head with his blankets, as if that would get the pounding in his head to stop. 

It didn’t.

Sighing, he threw his covers away, getting up way quicker than he should have. Goddamnit - he’d had hangovers before, he knew that was definitely not the way to handle them.

He slowly sat up on his bed, feeling absolutely disgusting. He noticed the curled up figure in Taeyong’s bed, his back towards him, so he started shedding his clothes from the night before into a pile on the ground, slipping on sweatpants and a t-shirt and grabbing his towel and shower essentials on the way out of his room.

He hadn’t even checked his phone for the time, but there wasn’t anyone in the bathroom, it was probably too early for anyone to even think about venturing out just yet. Johnny had had the benefit of going home early.

Why did he go home early again? He didn’t remember. Wasn’t his plan to stay out all night with Jaehyun?

Jaehyun.

Johnny sighed to himself as he entered one of the shower stalls, closing the curtain behind him maybe a little too roughly, then turning on the water and stripping his clothes off while he waited for it to get to a decently nice temperature. 

_ Jaehyun. _

Johnny stepped under the falling water, letting it wet his hair and his back as he stood there, thinking.

Jaehyun with the deep voice that made him shiver, with the strong hands that were always cold. Jaehyun who didn’t particularly taste like anything but somehow made Johnny want to taste more. The memory was coming back to him, the kiss from last night, hazy from the alcohol and somehow hot and cold at the same time.

That same hotness from the night before came flooding back in Johnny’s stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned a hand against the tiled bathroom wall. This was not the time to be horny.

But there wasn’t anyone in the bathroom, and Taeyong was in their room. Maybe this was the only time.

Johnny lowered his head, the water dripping off his sides as he thought more about the kiss, about the way Jaehyun had pushed their lips to meet, about the way his tongue had tasted on Johnny’s, with remnants of beer and nothing else. He tried not to groan as his free hand ventured to his lower half, already growing hard just from the thought of that kiss.

In his defence, he’d never touched himself at the thought of Jaehyun before, though he’d come close. That kiss though, that opened a whole new door for Johnny, for him to think of all the other things he wanted Jaehyun to do to him.

The memory played in his head, over and over again as he began to stroke himself slowly. Then he imagined they were alone, no party around them, Jaehyun breaking their kiss only to lift the shirt off of his own body and Johnny’s. Would the rest of him be as cold as his hands? He wondered how the skin over Jaehyun’s stomach would feel under his fingertips.

Johnny let out a breathy gasp and leaned forward, his rhythm getting faster and faster. The bathroom was empty but he couldn’t risk anyone hearing him. He leaned forward to his hand on the wall, now clenched in a fist, and lightly bit at his own thumb. 

He let his imagination run wild, thinking of Jaehyun having his hands all over him, kissing every inch of him, how it would feel if it was Jaehyun’s hand on his cock instead of his own.

He bit down harder on his thumb, restraining the urge to groan as his hips bucked forward, his pumping fast and frantic now. He could feel it, building up at his navel. Jaehyun had him so ruined the mere thought of him kissing and touching any part of Johnny had him an absolute mess.

He thought of their tongues sliding together, of their breath intermingling with the smell of alcohol - of a sharp prick on his lips and a flash of red eyes.

Unable to contain his whimper, Johnny’s hips bucked up once more as he came into his hand. He leaned himself against the cold tile wall, the pounding in his head less prevalent as he panted from his release. He didn’t know where the memory of that pricking feeling and the red eyes came from, but he didn’t question it. He’d just masturbated to the thought of his friend.

But then again, that friend had licked into his mouth last night. And had he… brought Johnny home? He couldn’t remember. Why had he gone home early again?

Johnny washed himself properly before turning the shower off, drying himself with his towel enough to slip his sweatpants back on and his t-shirt, though it mostly stuck to his chest from the lingering wetness. He didn’t want anyone to find him in there, for fear that they’d somehow read his mind and figure out he’d just masturbated in a communal shower area, so he quickly rubbed the towel in his hair before scurrying back to his dorm room.

Taeyong was awake by the time he got back.

“Hey.” His roommate nodded to him, expressionless as he scrolled through his phone.

“Hey.”

It had… taken a while, but they were on a decent talking basis now. Taeyong was shy, quiet, and somewhat removed. The opposite of Johnny. It had just taken them a while to learn how to move around each other.

Johnny brushed the towel through his hair until it was dry enough, thankful his headache had somewhat disappeared. Now he was just hungry.

Putting his towel away and scrounging in the pockets of his previously discarded pants on the floor, Johnny pulled out his phone. It was only 830AM but he’d already gotten a text from Jaehyun a few minutes ago.

**_From: Jaehyun_ **

_ Hey _

_ How are you feeling? _

 

_ My head hurtss lol _

_ And i’m starving _

_ Did you bring me home last night? _

 

_ Yeah _

_ You don’t remember anything? _

 

_ Bits and pieces _

 

_ It’s probably better that way _

 

Johnny’s heart panged in his chest. Did Jaehyun not want him to remember what they did last night? He didn’t think it was that big of a deal, it was just a kiss. But then again, he was the one who just touched himself at the thought of it. Maybe… Maybe Jaehyun didn’t feel the same way.

 

_ Thanks for bringing me home anyway _

 

_ Of course _

 

With a sigh, Johnny tossed his phone onto his bed. It was too early to think about those kinds of things, he didn’t want to give himself a heartache on top of his headache.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Johnny turned to see Taeyong peeking through his blankets, peering over his own phone in his hands to look at him. That’s how most of their conversations started, with Taeyong asking to ask a question.

“Sure.”

“Do you know… Jaehyun?”

Johnny blinked at him, vaguely remembering the time he’d brought Jaehyun to his dorm while Taeyong was there, but he’d been so occupied in whatever he was doing he hadn’t looked up.

“Yeah, he’s in my neuro class.” Johnny had planned to leave it at that but his brow furrowed instead. “Why?”

“N-Nothing I just -” Taeyong’s eyes flicked back to his phone, though Johnny could tell it wasn’t even on because there was no light reflecting off his face. “I just saw him talking with Ten last night.”

Johnny nodded slowly. He’d met Ten several times when he’d come to visit Taeyong in their dorm, but he’d never paid him much attention. He assumed his roommate had a crush on the guy and was just weighing his possible competition. “Oh.” Johnny shrugged, because he didn’t think Taeyong needed to worry about Jaehyun at all.

And then it hit him. The overwhelming urge to punch something. Jaehyun in the bathroom, mouth on Ten’s neck - a mouth that had just been on Johnny’s. Red eyes.

_ Oh. _

Now he remembered what Jaehyun didn’t want him to. He still hadn’t figured out that red eyes part though. Did he know anyone with red eyes? Johnny didn’t think so.

“You wanna go down for breakfast?” Johnny asked, because he needed a distraction.

“Sure.” Taeyong agreed and Johnny was sure it was because he needed one too.

  
  


 

 

By the time their next class came around Johnny still hadn’t decided if he wanted to be mad or not. To his own frustration, his heart began to beat rapidly when he saw Jaehyun, in his usual spot, in his usual black hoodie, with that usual small smile on his face. Any intention Johnny had of being mad was out the window. Damn him.

“Hey.” He slid into his own seat beside him.

“Hey.” Jaehyun smiled back.

Falling for his mysterious friend was easier than Johnny liked to admit. From his puppy dog eyes to just - his easy going nature despite Johnny thinking Jaehyun hated him at first. If he did then he certainly didn’t show it.

Johnny wished for the day his stupid heart would calm down when being next to him. He’d always had this weird feeling Jaehyun could hear it.

“Did you want to start studying together once exams get closer?” Jaehyun asked after class had ended as they gathered their things.

Johnny tried not to stare at him. That was the first time he’d initiated them hanging out. “S-Sure.” And then he realized in a small panic that it was November and exams would be in a month. Oh god, he wasn’t ready for that.

He didn’t get much studying done with Jaehyun around either, but he’d probably let his grades suffer a little bit if it meant more time with him. 

“How about we start next week?” Just his smile could send Johnny’s heart into a frenzy. “And then I can finally try those Hot Cheetos you rave about.”

“You haven’t tried the ones I left over?”

“Of course I didn’t, I wanted to try them with you.”

Johnny’s heart leaped. Oh, he certainly was a wreck for Jaehyun.

  
  


 

 

Johnny headed back to his dorm, wanting nothing more than to just roll into his bed before his next class. When he opened the door however, he was immediately confronted by Taeyong.

“What the fuck is your friend Jaehyun’s deal?” Taeyong’s finger was in his face, pointed at him threateningly. Despite the large height difference between them, the smaller was very much in Johnny’s space.

“What -?” He’d never seen Taeyong this agitated before. He looked past him to see Ten, sitting on Taeyong’s bed, a large scarf around his neck.

Something curled, unsettled in Johnny’s stomach.

“Taeyong, please, it’s probably nothing.” Ten sighed from the other side of the room. Taeyong whipped around and practically raced back to his friend.

“Nothing?!” He exclaimed, his fingers going to the scarf on Ten’s neck. “It’s not nothing! Show him!”

Johnny raised a hand. He didn’t want to know what Jaehyun had done to Ten. He’d probably get jealous. “ Uhm, I’d rather not-”

Taeyong unfurled the scarf around Ten’s neck and Johnny immediately felt himself recoil. Instead of a purple hickey like he’d been expecting, Ten’s skin was splotched a sickly green and yellow, with two dots that almost looked like holes, so red they seemed angry. He wouldn’t be surprised if he poked it and pus started coming out.

Johnny grimaced, his stomach flipping. Nevermind, he wasn’t jealous. “That -” He coughed, trying not to visibly gag. “-Is definitely not nothing.”

“He probably just bit too hard!” Ten rolled his eyes, reaching for his scarf again.

“Why is he  _ biting _ you?” Taeyong yelled, appalled. “And why is it  _ poisoning _ you?”

“It’s  _ not _ \- And I’ve told you about the blood kink before!”

“B-Blood kink?” Johnny couldn’t help but blurt out, because that was definitely something he didn’t expect from Jaehyun. He thought back to the Halloween party and Jaehyun’s vampire costume and how it all seemed just a little too ironic.

“Yes.” Ten huffed, wrapping his scarf around him again but wincing when it brushed against his skin. Obviously it hurt, and obviously it wasn’t just  _ ‘nothing’ _ .

“You need to go get that checked out.” Johnny wasn’t exactly friends with either of them, and the thought of Jaehyun being responsible for whatever the fuck was happening to Ten’s neck left a sour taste in his mouth, but what he did know was that it wasn’t going to just go away like Ten hoped it would.

“I’m not going to a hospital.”

“We can go to my doctor.” Taeyong put a tentative hand on Ten’s shoulder.

“I’m not going to your hoodoo doctor either!”

“It’s either the hospital or the ‘hoodoo’ doctor, Ten.” If Taeyong was offended by the term hoodoo then he did a very good job at hiding it.

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, Johnny awkwardly looking between them before finally, Ten sighed. “Fine, we’ll go to your hoodoo doctor.”

Taeyong patted his shoulder and Ten rolled his eyes and stood up. 

“Aren’t you coming, Johnny?” Taeyong called out as they opened the door to leave the dorm.

Johnny wasn’t sure. On one hand he wanted to know what the fuck was on Ten’s neck, and on the other, he wanted to forget about all of it completely. Without thinking he found himself following the two out of his dorm, curiosity getting the better of him.

  
  


 

 

Taeyong’s doctor’s office was exactly like Johnny had imagined it would be on the bus ride over. A hidden entrance to the side of a building no one would blink twice at, with a slew of sketchy characters hanging around it. Taeyong didn’t seem to bat an eye when he entered first, the bell at the top of the door ringing as Johnny followed and was assaulted with the thick scent of incense.

“Baekhyun!” Taeyong exclaimed as he approached a man in a set of patterned velvet robes. “We have an emergency!”

“How legit is this doctor if Taeyong doesn’t even call him… doctor?” Johnny murmured to Ten, who, for the first time since they’d left the dorm, looked worried. The walls of the small room were lined with… images. Ones Johnny wasn’t too sure what they even depicted. He didn’t know if he was supposed to take his shoes off or not, but he felt inherently wrong when walking on the red carpet that lined the room.

“Taeyong-ah! So nice to see you!” The small man, the supposed ‘doctor’ beamed, then looked to the two behind Taeyong. “And you’ve brought friends! How wonderful! What are your na-” Baekhyun stopped and stared at Ten, eyes wide. “Oh you - what’s happened to you?! Come in here, quickly!” He rushed off through a curtain of beads into another room. The three followed after him, and Johnny found himself in a bigger room full of - well again, he didn’t know what exactly. Jars full of… things? Maybe he didn’t want to know.

“Sit here, sit right here boy!” Baekhyun patted a wooden chair for Ten to sit in before zipping about the room, removing several of the glass jars off the shelves they sat on. Ten gulped and hesitated, but Taeyong pushed him into the chair gently but insistently.

Johnny just wondered how the fuck he’d gotten himself here and what the hell Jaehyun had to do with it.

Baekhyun dropped several jars and pouches onto the table next to the chair, startling Ten (and Johnny) with his sudden movements. He finally came to a halt in front of Ten, and hooked a finger in his scarf. “Can I take this off?”

Ten nodded, eyes only looking at Taeyong who had situated himself behind the doctor, very much interested in whatever he was going to do. Johnny hung back in the corner of the room, perhaps because he was trying to somehow remove himself from the situation entirely.

“Ah,” Baekhyun gasped as he removed the scarf from Ten’s neck. Johnny tried not to look but he couldn’t  _ not _ . His stomach churned when he thought the green splotch seemed to be… pulsing. “This is - ah - I won’t need - but I’ll do -  _ yes _ \- do you remember anything happening out of the ordinary Ten?” Baekhyun sifted through the many things he’d placed on the table beside him.

Johnny didn’t recall Ten ever introducing himself.

“I - uhm, no?”

“Don’t lie Ten!” Taeyong turned to Baekhyun. “He was bitten at a Halloween party.”

“Bitten?” Baekhyun tilted his head and then nodded. “Ah, a little romp gone too far I assume?”

The sour taste returned to Johnny’s mouth. He definitely shouldn’t have come with them, he didn’t want to know, he wanted to forget.

“No, it was on purpose.” Taeyong sounded a bit strained, almost like he didn’t want to remember either. “Maybe Jaehyun just has rabies.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “No no… not rabies…” He dashed to one of his walls and picked out the tiniest glass jar, filled with a silver liquid.

“Two holes? Yes, it’ll go right in…” He muttered to himself as he went back to Ten and examined his neck a little more closely. “This might… tickle.”

He tilted the glass bottle and a drop of the silver liquid splashed onto Ten’s neck in one spot and then he moved and did it again. Johnny assumed it was on the two red angry spots he had seen earlier. He wasn’t sure if he was in is right mind, but Johnny swore he could see steam coming from Ten’s neck

Baekhyun calmly straightened himself up, then turned to look directly at Johnny. “You might want to come help hold him down.”

As if on cue, Ten’s neck snapped up, staring at the ceiling, eyes wide, his mouth gasping. His hands clenched around the arms of the chair, knuckles turning white before he began to groan in pain.

Johnny was over in a flash, holding down Ten’s thighs while Taeyong held his arms as Ten began to thrash in the chair. “It hurts, it hurts!” He screamed, cheeks wet with tears.

“It won’t last for much longer now.” Baekhyun was way too calm. Johnny had been seeing right, there was steam coming from the dots - the holes? In Ten’s neck, and the green splotch was slowly disappearing.

‘Not much longer’ seemed to last a damn long enough time in Johnny’s mind.

Ten cried out and slumped in the chair when the wound was gone, save for two spots on his neck that now looked like tiny scars.

“What the  _ fuck _ was that?” Johnny looked at Taeyong, who looked as equally lost as he was. They both turned to Baekhyun who was milling about his shelves, putting the stuff he’d brought out earlier back to their places.

“Liquid silver.” He said, again, way too calmly.

“You poured  _ liquid silver _ into his neck?”

“Not  _ pure _ silver.” Baekhyun sounded a little annoyed. “But silver is the best defence against vampires.”

Taeyong looked at Ten, who was still slumped but staring at Taeyong through heavy lids. “I’m not a vampire, vampires don’t even exist.”

For some reason, Johnny’s heart began to thump. Red eyes.

“Oh no, you’re not a vampire.” Baekhyun walked over and tapped Ten’s neck where the wound had been, making him jump. “You’re simply allergic to the bite of one.”

Johnny’s head felt light. His knees faltered when he took a step back but nobody seemed to notice.

“Okay, even if there are vampires, how can you be allergic to the bite?” Taeyong was curious, too curious.

“Their saliva of course.” Baekhyun said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it was, maybe it should have been. “It has properties that make it feel good to get your blood drained from you.”

Baekhyun waved his hand, like everything he had just said was unimportant. “Anyways, just don’t let any more vampires at your neck, or you’ll die from a nasty infection if you don’t get it looked after again, and there’s only so many times I can pour silver in your neck. Who did you say bit you again?”

Johnny’s heart had stopped, stuck in his throat. Taeyong and Ten finally looked at him now, the realization dawning on their face.

Red eyes. Sharp teeth.  _ Jaehyun _ .

_ Vampire. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny knew he was a vampire.

“What are you two smiling about?”

For the first time that semester Yuta and Sicheng were actually outside class at the same time as Jaehyun, just as early.

Yuta had his usual shit-eating grin on his face but Jaehyun’s surprise came from Sicheng, who mirrored it.

“We’re gonna ask Taeil if he’ll let us turn him.” Yuta seemed to glow. He didn’t seem to care if they were overheard, there wasn’t anyone near them in the hallway anyway.

“Oh shit.” Jaehyun’s eyebrows shot up. Asking a human if they wanted to be turned was basically like asking for their hand in marriage. The vampire equivalent. “I pity the humans who will have the three of you at their neck.”

Sicheng lightly shook his head, lips pressed together trying to contain his smile. “All I care about is spending eternity with him. All three of us.”

Jaehyun pretended to gag, earning a shove from Sicheng.

“I mean… the way you said it… was kinda gross.” Yuta was an expert in avoiding Sicheng’s oncoming hands. “What?!  _ ‘Spending eternity’ _ was so vampire romance fiction of you to say!”

Sicheng hushed him before they got louder and before anyone could hear them. Jaehyun rolled his eyes and entered the classroom, nodding to his friends as they split to different parts of the room.

It was harder to wait for class to start now because all Jaehyun really was doing was waiting for Johnny to show up.

And he did eventually, scurrying in at the last second, right before Professor Seulgi started class, looking like he’d seen a ghost.

“Hey,” Jaehyun whispered when he sat down. Johnny flinched. “Are you okay?”

There were dark circles under his eyes and a green tinge to his pale skin. Sickly was the only way Jaehyun could describe it.

“I’m good.” Johnny’s smile didn’t reach as wide as it usually did. His eyes lacked that brightness Jaehyun had begun to be familiar with. “E-Everything’s good.” His voice cracked.

Jaehyun would have been inclined to believe him if Johnny’s heart was not beating at what seemed like a million miles a minute. (Physically impossible, but it was beating very fast and it was very concerning.)

He tilted his head to the side, questioning, fully ignoring the lecture going on in front of him. Johnny pretended he didn’t notice Jaehyun staring at him, but Jaehyun could see his eyes darting from the professor to Jaehyun, no matter how sly he thought he was being.

Jaehyun raked his eyes down Johnny’s form, looking for anything that could be wrong, concerned with the amount of sweat on Johnny’s brow. Was he scared? His eyes traveled down until he noticed Johnny couldn’t even type, his hands were shaking so badly.

He was overwhelmed with the urge to curl Johnny up into a hug and kiss away whatever was scaring him. He didn’t think that would be very appropriate in the middle of a classroom and obviously because he and Johnny had never talked about being like… that. He might have thought about it a lot since the party though. Like, constantly.

Instead, he settled for reaching over and placing his hand over Johnny’s, attempting to be reassuring. That seemed to get him to freeze, which Jaehyun decided, was better than when he was shaking.

Johnny’s heartbeat was deafening, Jaehyun even noticed Sicheng and Yuta shift in their seats, trying to ignore it.

Johnny stared at the hand covering his. Jaehyun was so caught up with his own thoughts and the bass of Johnny’s heartbeat pounding in his ears he almost doesn’t hear him whisper, “You’re so fucking cold.”

Jaehyun’s heart sank. Not the reaction he was looking for. Jaehyun stared at Johnny, silently pleading for clarification, but Johnny simply looked pained as he pulled his hand away and tucked it into his lap.

Jaehyun had to stop himself from pouting. He wished Johnny would tell him what was going on. He wanted to protect him, protect him from whatever scared him so much he couldn’t look at anyone.

  
  


 

 

Johnny kind of wanted to throw himself into the pile of cold, moldy leaves he saw on the way back to his dorm. He’d spent a whole day and two whole nights thinking about how to confront Jaehyun about his… condition.

After a lot of thinking, there really was no good way to say  _ ‘Hey, I know you’re a vampire. Also I still have a crush on you for some reason and kind of want you to suck my blood. Do I have a death sentence?’ _

There had been a point where Johnny had convinced himself he was very much into humans with heartbeats and skin that's warm and people that could  _ actually fucking eat Hot Cheetos _ .

But that was quickly thrown out the window when he remembered how willing Jaehyun had been to even try them for Johnny. He wondered how it would have gone down, because he’d already worked out that Jaehyun was a terrible liar. You’d think he would have practiced after living so long.

That was if he was even old. What if he was still young? Johnny shook his head, he couldn’t be, if Jaehyun was a young vampire he would have bitten Johnny’s head off already, because even he knew for a fact that Jaehyun could hear his heartbeat just as loudly as he could, probably even louder.

And then in class, when Jaehyun had touched him? Fuck, Johnny almost blurted everything out there and then. He was so far gone, falling even more for the vampire when he was terrified.

He wasn’t quite sure what he was scared of yet though. Jaehyun? He couldn’t be, if he was he wouldn’t have gone to class.

_ God _ , Johnny didn’t know, but curling up in his bed and moaning about it to Taeyong seemed like an appealing idea, so he rushed back to the comfort of his dorm.

He took deep breaths in the elevator when he saw himself in the mirror. He looked like an oversized Chihuahua he was shaking so much. Not cute. 

He stepped out of the elevator when it got to his floor but frowned and didn’t head towards his room when he saw Taeyong outside of it, talking with what seemed like two young kids.

They only seemed to be about 16 or 17, too young to be on a college campus anyway. Johnny inched forward, slowing coming into earshot of the conversation. Offhandedly, he wondered if Jaehyun could hear through walls. He guessed he could if he could hear a heartbeat.

“- No one else knows?” The shorter of the two boys asked andTaeyong shook his head. “No, just me and Ten.”

“You haven’t told your roommate?” The other, much taller boy asked, craning his neck to look into Taeyong and Johnny’s room.

Taeyong shook his head again. “No, we’re not close enough for that.”

Johnny’s frown got even bigger. Sure they weren’t close but they’d both witnessed something together that most people hadn’t, he figured that made them closer in a different way-

“We’ll be contacting Ten again soon. Tell him it would be a shame to put his gift to waste.”

Taeyong smiled, tight lipped. “Will do.”

Johnny knew that smile meant he wouldn’t. It was the same smile Taeyong had given him when he’d asked around the beginning of the semester if he could stop taking so long in their shared bathroom in the morning. Taeyong had promised he would take less time. Johnny was pretty sure he took even more time now.

Johnny scrambled to look at his phone nonchalantly as the young boys left and passed by him. He glanced at the shorter one - less obvious - and noticed the necklace he wore. A silver chain with a sharp tooth at the end. Johnny was pretty sure it wasn’t a shark tooth. If he hadn’t been sweating before, he sure was then.

He hurried back to his room where he was promptly pulled in by his chest and told to hush when he protested. Taeyong stood, ear pressed to the door after closing it. They stood in silence for 5 minutes before he eventually let Johnny speak.

“Who were those guys?”

Taeyong sighed. “Vampire hunters.”

Johnny’s heart filled with dread and sank to the bottom of his stomach.

“W-What did they want?” He knew what they wanted.

_ Jaehyun. _

Taeyong sighed again. “I’m sorry Johnny, I guess there’s this policy - or rule or something - where Baekhyun has to inform them of anything to do with vampires. They’re… they’re looking for him.”

Johnny’s mouth opened and then closed. He took a deep breath and opened it once more only to close it again.

Taeyong rolled his eyes, as if this were  _ easy _ , but he still waited while Johnny gathered his thoughts.

“What do they want with Ten? Why did they look so  _ young _ ?” He figured he’d ask the easier questions first.

“You can only be a vampire hunter if you’re allergic to the bite, so you can never be ‘ _ tainted _ ’. They’re trying to recruit Ten. A _ gift _ \- they called it.” Taeyong scoffed. He didn’t know why but it lightened Johnny’s heart to hear Taeyong talk about the hunters with disdain. “I don’t know why those two were so young but they’ve probably been training for… years.”

Johnny gulped. “Is Ten gonna do it?”

“Of course not, he’s been ignoring their calls, that’s why they came to me.”

Johnny felt relieved to hear that for some reason.

“You… You told them you hadn’t told me…?”

It was Taeyong’s turn to take the time to gather his words. “I just… I know you two are friends and I… I did see you two at the Halloween party… I just figured it was the right thing to do.” He shrugged. “He seems like he means something to you.”

Johnny couldn’t help it, he ran over to Taeyong and scooped him up into a hug. “Holy shit Taeyong, thank you,  _ thank you _ .” 

He dropped Taeyong out of his arms with a little less grace than he should have, but he couldn’t help it, his thoughts were _ everywhere _ .

“Holy shit,” Johnny realized with a start. “I have to go warn Jaehyun!”

  
  


 

 

Jaehyun finally understood why it was so easy to get into playing video games when you didn’t want to think about anything else. He didn’t want to think about whatever it was that was going on with Johnny, so instead, he got Sicheng to boot up his gaming console and properly teach him how to play Overwatch.

At least Yuta and Taeil were having fun and getting a good laugh out of it.

Jaehyun sighed as Sicheng snatched the controller from him. “Let me show you.” Jaehyun knew he wasn’t going to finish the match with the controller in his own hands. Yuta’s hyena laughter was so goddamn irritating.

And then he heard it - the sound he knew so well - cutting straight through the sound of Yuta’s laughter and making all three vampires fall silent.

Johnny’s heartbeat.

Taeil perked up from the couch, noticing something different but not being able to hear like they could. “What’s going on?” He glanced between them.

Jaehyun’s eyes were glued to the door, scrambling up towards it. He was imagining this, right? Why was Johnny here?

The pounding got closer and closer until finally, Jaehyun could hear Johnny breathing on the other side. It took him a whole minute to ring the doorbell, Jaehyun with his hand on the doorknob the entire time, waiting.

He probably should have taken a few moments to open the door, to appear a little more  _ normal _ but he couldn’t help it, he was excited, curious,  _ worried _ .

Johnny’s eyes widened, barely having taken his hand away from the doorbell before the door was yanked open. Instead of cursing in surprise like Jaehyun expected him to, Johnny simply sighed. “I guess I should have expected that.”

Jaehyun tilted his head to the side, questioning, but not sure which of his many questions he wanted Johnny to answer.

They stared at each other, for how long - neither of them could tell, until Johnny finally blurted out, “You’re being hunted.”

Jaehyun blinked. “I’m - what?”

“You’re - hunt - vampire - it -” Johnny took a deep breath to continue but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Sicheng by Jaehyun’s side.

“Johnny. Come in.”

Jaehyun barely registered what was going on when Sicheng ushered them inside, guiding Johnny to the living room, though he refused to sit. 

Jaehyun felt himself get gently pushed to sitting on the couch. He stared at Johnny, blank faced.

Did he say…  _ vampire? _

Johnny - obviously not knowing where to start, ran his hands through his hair and paced around, all three vampires and Taeil, watching him carefully.

He stopped and huffed at himself, before finally speaking.

“I guess I’ll start at the beginning. Ten… Ten’s allergic to you - to vampire saliva - o-or something, whatever it is.”

Jaehyun could feel Sicheng and Yuta staring at him, but he couldn’t find the words to speak. All he could register was that Johnny  _ knew. _

Johnny knew he was a vampire.

“- We went to this doctor, a-and he injected like, liquid silver or something so he’s okay, Ten’s okay now but he had to - the doctor had to tell them what happened.” Johnny’s eyes finally met Jaehyun’s. “The vampire hunters are looking for you.”

Jaehyun couldn’t hear anything other than the beating of Johnny’s heart. “So… you know…”

Johnny didn’t flinch when Jaehyun got up and approached him. “Well it’d be a bit weird if vampire hunters were after you if you weren’t.”

Yuta snorted and Sicheng hissed at him. Jaehyun ignored them both. “And you’re not… afraid of me?”

“I was.” Johnny confessed, his eyes never leaving Jaehyun’s. “A little bit. It wasn’t a nice way to find out. But I… I still have the overwhelming urge to kiss you, vampire or not, so…”

Jaehyun didn’t have breath to be taken away but if he did, he would have felt winded right then.

“Huh,” Yuta’s voice cut through the tension between the two. “I guess now’s a better time than any to give him the blood talk, huh Jaehyunnie?”

Jaehyun choked on nothing and swung to face his goddamn friend. “I am not - I’m  _ not  _ drinking Johnny’s blood! He just found out!”

“I didn’t say you had to right _ now _ .”

“ _ Nakamoto Yuta _ -”

“I mean if you wanted to I wouldn’t mind.” Johnny blurted out and Jaehyun turned towards him, eyes wide. Johnny’s cheeks were tinged pink and he couldn’t meet Jaehyun’s gaze this time.

Holy shit. Johnny himself was going to be the bane of Jaehyun’s resolve.

“Alright. How about you two,” Taeil pointed towards Sicheng and Yuta. “We go somewhere else and give them some privacy, since you guys can hear everything anyway.”

Yuta pouted but went along willingly out of the house with Sicheng. Jaehyun couldn’t be bothered to ask where they were going.

It was just him and Johnny now.

Jaehyun held his hand out, offering, and was absolutely delighted when Johnny took it.

“What do you want to know?” His voice was soft, as delicate as he could make it.

Johnny met his eyes and whispered. “Everything.”

And so he told him. Everything.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	9. IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So… you think you really found your ‘one’, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking so long to update this guys, once one week passes without it the others just go by so easily,, thank you to everyone who's stuck with me and these dummies ♥

Johnny was lying in his bed, hands folded onto his stomach, just staring at the ceiling.

“What’re you smiling about?” Taeyong asked from across the room, looking over the top of his laptop. Johnny didn’t even realize he was smiling. He may have been thinking about Jaehyun.

“Jaehyun said he liked me.” Jaehyun had told him he liked him a lot, almost too much, though Johnny hadn’t quite figured out what that meant.

Taeyong snorted. “Did the vamp suck your blood too?”

Johnny’s smile faltered. “No, he didn't. He doesn’t want to.”

“Oh.” Taeyong quieted, awkward, like he’d said the wrong thing. “Sorry - I - does that mean he  _ really _ does like you or…”

“I don’t know.” They hadn’t even kissed that night, as much as Johnny said it was okay, how much he wanted it, especially sober. He saw the turmoil in Jaehyun’s eyes and had decided to drop it.

Jaehyun had told him the more a vampire drank from the same human, a bond was created between them. He said that Taeil, Yuta and Sicheng could  _ feel _ each other, even when apart. It didn’t take long for Johnny to yearn for that too.

“I think he’s scared.” Johnny didn’t realize he’d started whispering out loud. 

Taeyong was silent for a moment before responding. “Then maybe he really does care about you. Ten told me it doesn’t hurt to have blood taken from you though - it basically feels like the build up to an orgasm.”

Johnny tried ignoring the pang of jealousy in his stomach. Jaehyun had explained it to him - how he didn’t like tricking people into letting him drink their blood, how he fed as minimally as possible.

“He said that now that there’s hunters, he really can’t drink because it’ll put him in danger. He said that they can tell when a human’s been fed from. Yuta and Sicheng might have to stop feeding from Taeil for now too and lay low, but they’ll mainly be after Jaehyun since he basically almost killed Ten.”

“Okay first of all - how many goddamn fucking vampire _ are there _ ? And why does that matter when Ten wanted it and Jaehyun didn’t take it by force?”

Johnny shrugged. “Apparently that’s just how it is. Especially since Ten’s allergic, if he joins it’s like tradition or something that he kills Jaehyun, the vampire that discovered his allergy.”

“Ten’s not joining.” Taeyong sounded sure. “How can they tell when a human’s been fed from?”

“Jaehyun said they don’t have a sample of his saliva from Ten so they can’t track him like that, but apparently humans smell different for a few days so if he drinks from anyone - they can find out. Oh, and there’s the teeth marks too, obviously.”

Taeyong scrunched his nose. “Ew. Imagine having your nose trained to smell that kind of thing. B.O is disgusting, add supernatural saliva to that? Ugh.”

_ ‘What the hunters want - they usually get.’ _ Jaehyun had stared at Johnny, unblinking, his hand holding his, cold but still somehow warm with comfort. It was like he was trying to prepare him for something, for the event that Jaehyun was killed.

Johnny shuddered at the thought, but then pushed it out of his mind. Jaehyun wasn’t dying, Johnny just fucking  _ confessed  _ to him, there was no way he was going to lose him now. What was the point of liking an immortal being if they weren’t going to fucking  _ stay  _ immortal? Goddamnit, what other reason would there be for them to have met?

Maybe Johnny had thought about becoming a vampire too - but he and Jaehyun had barely confessed and it was like thinking of marriage already - literal eternal marriage.

But he also… didn’t mind the thought. Maybe once Jaehyun actually let himself feed from Johnny he’d bring it up… somehow. Johnny knew somewhere, deep inside him, he was supposed to sit next to the cute boy tucked into a sweater that looked too hot to wear on the first day of classes that just so happened to be a vampire. He’d never really believed in that stuff before, but the more time he spent with Jaehyun the more he believed it.

“So what are you going to do?” Taeyong brought him out of his thoughts.

“I don’t know.” Johnny shrugged, but the smile had returned to his face.   
  
  


 

 

They didn’t text too often, Johnny knew Jaehyun was somehow so technologically impaired it just didn’t come natural to him. (And this guy said he wanted to study artificial intelligence later. Was he serious?! He didn’t even know about the impact Vine had on society.)

Johnny figured he’d just have to start showing up at his house if they were gonna figure out what was going to happen with them. When Jaehyun had freaked out because ‘ _ what if the hunters start following you? _ ’ (Johnny thought he worried a lot for a vampire) they’d resorted to phone calls that Taeyong would leave the dorm for to give them privacy.

Not that their conversations were ooey gooey gross or anything, they just… talked. About their day, about their courses, sometimes Johnny would ask a question about Jaehyun’s past and he would answer, and then Jaehyun would even ask about Johnny’s past. Johnny knew he wasn’t nearly as interesting as a 300 year old vampire but Jaehyun somehow thought so.

Three whole days without a phone call and Johnny was itching to see Jaehyun and hear his voice in class - maybe hold his hand under the table or something. They could do that, right? Who cared about taking notes (rhetorical, he knew Jaehyun cared).

To his surprise, Jaehyun wasn’t in class by the time he got there, the room already half full. Johnny shrugged - it had happened before, it wasn’t a big deal. It was when neither Sicheng or Yuta showed up and class started that he began to worry.

His foot tapped incessantly under the desk, watching the clock, time going by so fucking _ slowly _ , waiting for any of the vampires to show up. He couldn’t even concentrate to take notes, where were they? Johnny wouldn’t let himself even think about the hunters.

Jaehyun didn’t respond to his texts, nor his phone calls after class, so without a second thought Johnny hopped onto the bus and made his way to the vampire’s residence.

He didn’t bother ringing the doorbell, he knew they’d be able to hear him.

When no one answered the door, Johnny rung the doorbell.

“I know I’m literally the least threatening person ever,” He spoke aloud. He’d feel like an idiot if no one was home. “But you need to let me in and tell me what the fuck is happening.”

No answer, so he decided to bang on the door with his fist. “Jaehyun? What the fuck is happening? Is it the hunters? Hello?!”

The door swung open and Johnny was dragged in at the speed of light, Yuta’s grip on the collar of his t-shirt strained as he found himself in the living room, Sicheng standing in front of him, frowning.

“Try not to tell the whole neighbourhood Johnny.” The usual playful grin from Yuta wasn’t anywhere to be found, he looked rather worried actually, as he let go of Johnny and sat on the couch with a huff.

“Well, what the hell is happening?” Johnny had so many questions. “Where’s Jaehyun?”

Sicheng hesitated before answering. “Hiding.”

“Hiding?! Where?”

“It wouldn’t be called  _ ‘hiding’ _ if everyone knew where he was, would it?” Yuta scoffed.

“Why the fuck is he hiding? Why aren’t you guys hiding? I thought they’d be after you too.”

“The hunters came around, and it’s not us they’re after. Even if Ten isn’t one of them, they still think of him as their own, they don’t care about us because they think we only drink from one consenting person. It’s Jaehyun they want.”

Johnny took a step forward. “I want to know where he is.”

“So do they.”

Johnny resisted the urge to kick the ground like a child. He raised his chin, defiant. “I deserve to know.”

Sicheng raised a brow, undisturbed. “Do you now? I didn’t get the memo that you two were bonded or anything - oh but of course, if you were, it wouldn’t matter because you’d  _ know _ where he was.”

“Sicheng…” Yuta murmured, warning.

Sicheng ignored him. “Who is he to you?” He stepped closer this time, challenging. It took Johnny every inch of self restraint he had not to shrink back, to not show any weakness even though he knew they could hear his frantic heartbeat.

“He’s the guy I sit next to in Neuro. My project partner. My friend.” Jaehyun had been Johnny’s friend at his loneliest point - before he had started to get along with his roommate. “Someone I want to never go through pain again. Someone I want to spend forever touching, kissing. Someone I want to spend forever  _ with _ .” Johnny held a hand to his chest, feeling the power of his heart, which was answer enough.

Sicheng eyed him curiously, and it seemed like forever until he said anything else. “Fine. I’ll take you to him.”

Johnny smiled a thank you but it worried him a little when neither of them smiled back.   
  
  


 

 

He should have expected it, that a dramatic vampire like Jaehyun would have his friends lock him in a giant vault underground, _ why _ did the city even have something like this built anyway? It was  _ so _ Vampire Diaries, or a vampire equivalent of Teen Wolf. What was with the supernatural and their fucking vaults?

“I’d tell you not to get too close but who am I kidding?” Yuta opened up the vault door to reveal Jaehyun, hands chained on the wall above him.

Jaehyun’s head snapped up as soon as he heard Johnny enter. For someone who didn’t need to sleep, he looked tired.

“Johnny,” His voice was cracked, hoarse. “What are you doing here?”

“You think I wasn’t gonna notice when you didn’t come to class? When you didn’t answer the phone?” Jaehyun looked more and more pained the closer Johnny got to him.

“Please… Stay away.”

“Why? Why do you keep pushing me away when I  _ want _ this?”

“No,” Jaehyun shook his head, hair falling into his eyes. “I need to feed but - the hunters - it’s too dangerous.”

Johnny stood only a foot away from him, it hurt to see Jaehyun flinching at his advance. “Drink from me Jaehyun, please, I’m not gonna have you fucking die from this.”

“Johnny…”

The idea had flipped his stomach before but Johnny couldn’t deny how much he wanted it to happen, how much he wanted to share that bond with Jaehyun, to give him literal  _ life _ . “I don’t care about the hunters, _ I don’t care _ , we could be running away for the rest of time together and I’d be happy.”

Jaehyun looked up into his eyes, searching. “You’re being serious?”

“Of course I am,” Johnny reached up to one of Jaehyun’s chained hands and threaded their fingers together. He had first chalked all this up to a mere ‘crush’ but it was clear now it was already way more than that. “Can’t you hear my heart?”

Seeing Jaehyun smile, even if it was just a little bit, was like seeing the sun peak through the clouds after a thunderstorm.

“If I drink from you - they’ll find us, and if they manage to get me, and we’re bonded,” Jaehyun’s voice faltered. “I won’t let that happen, I won’t put you in danger, in pain.”

Johnny blinked at him. “And if there was a way to get you food without drinking from me directly?”

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Jaehyun was stern but he looked over Johnny’s face, amused. “You have an idea.”

“Maybe.” Johnny smiled playfully. “You have to kiss me to find out.”

“Johnny…”

“You won’t hurt me - if that’s what you’re afraid of. You won’t - I know you won’t, you couldn’t even hurt me when we weren’t friends and you were hungry.”

Jaehyun chuckled at the memory. “I just don’t like absolving my resolves.”

“Ew, what are you, three hundred years old? Absolve those resolves baby, before I leave you for some other handsome vampire that will actually kiss me.” On the inside Johnny was cringing at himself,  _ what the fuck was that _ , but he was so fucking happy with it when Jaehyun boomed in laughter, using his otherworldly strength in his hand to yank Johnny closer, flush against Jaehyun’s chest.

“We can’t have you doing that now, can we?” He mumbled, breath against Johnny’s cheek before pressing their lips together, slow, deliberately savouring the feeling of their mouths together unlike their first (not sober) kiss. Johnny was quite content with just that, grunting in surprise when Jaehyun pushed his tongue past his lips easily, deepening their kisses and Johnny almost forgot Jaehyun was chained to the wall in an underground vault.

Despite the vampire’s skin being cold, Johnny still felt so warm, mouths moving together, his free hand cupping Jaehyun’s jaw, wishing to be anywhere but inside a fucking vault. They kissed and they kissed until Jaehyun pulled away with a groan, eyes glowing the same blood red Johnny saw in his dreams, incisors just barely poking out from under his lips.

Johnny raised his brows, feeling winded but also incredibly turned on. “Hot.”

Jaehyun’s laugh vibrated deep in his chest. Johnny wanted to listen and feel it forever. “I knew you’d be dangerous for me.”

  
  


 

 

It made complete sense, Johnny had no idea how the other vampires hadn’t thought of it before, though he realized it probably fell into Jaehyun’s ‘ _ no taking from people without their permission _ ’ philosophy, and they probably didn’t watch as much Vampire TV that Johnny did.

He was sat on his bed, arm propped up on his side table, waiting as a student Taeil knew called Yerim, tied an elastic band around his arm as a tourniquet.

“Not to ask again but like, why am I doing this?”

“Just an experiment, I’ve gone through all the procedures for this.” Taeil shrugged. 

They hadn’t done any paperwork whatsoever and it must have been obvious because otherwise, why were they taking blood from Johnny while in his dorm room and not the official clinic?

Yerim frowned, obviously seeing the cracks in their story. “And how much am I taking?”

“Just keep going until we say stop.”

She turned towards Taeil, disbelieving. “Are you  _ trying _ to get him to pass out?”

Taeil shrugged again. “He’s a big boy, he can handle it.”

It had been Johnny who had convinced Taeil to take as much as possible. He wanted to supply Jaehyun for as long as he could, so Jaehyun wouldn’t be so hungry anymore (and maybe he would kiss him again. And again).

Yerim huffed. “I don’t know what the fuck you two are into, but I’ll play along as long as I don’t get in trouble.”

Johnny smiled, hoping it would translate as a thanks but she didn’t waste her time looking at him once she started the process.

“What’s - jesus christ Johnny.” Taeyong announced his arrival into their room with a grimace on his face. “Are you - Are you drawing blood?”

“Experiment.” Taeil explained, though it wasn’t really an explanation at all, yet Taeyong understood, his brows raising and looking at Yerim cautiously.

“Are you starting to feel dizzy?” She asked, finally looking at Johnny. They already had a couple of vials filled.

“A little bit,” His head was a little woozy but it wasn’t bad. He could keep going. “Keep going.”

“I’m not liable if anything happens. If anyone asks you, I was never here.” Yerim mumbled to herself, continuing.

Once they had enough vials filled to Johnny’s liking, Yerim quickly packed her things and left, leaving Taeil and Taeyong to guide Johnny gently to lying on his bed.

“He’s giving it to Jaehyun, isn’t he?” He heard Taeyong ask.

“Of course.”

Taeyong sighed. “Literally giving your blood to him, and not even in the pleasant way? You really are head over heels for this vampire, aren’t you Johnny?”

Johnny registered a smile on his face before his vision blacked.

  
  


 

 

It took all of Jaehyun’s resistance, which he didn’t have much of in the first place at that moment, not to drink every single fucking vial of blood he could smell in Sicheng’s bag.

He downed a vial in one gulp, already feeling his strength coming back to him. “How much blood did he take out?” He asked, worried. His hands were unchained, no longer at risk of destroying anything now with Johnny’s blood to sustain him periodically.

“If you know you’ll get upset with him.” Sicheng raised a brow when Jaehyun made sure he’d gotten every last drop from the vial.

“He tastes too good to get upset.” It was a joke that Sicheng would have usually laughed at but his expression made no move, only staring at Jaehyun curiously.

“So… you think you really found your ‘one’, huh?”

Jaehyun nodded slowly.

“Good. Don’t fuck it up now, you dope.” The playful slap of one vampire to another echoed like thunder in the vault.

“When do I not?” Jaehyun laughed. He’d already screwed it up several times and Johnny had still let him in to his heart. Maybe he was grateful Yuta and Sicheng didn’t sit with him on the first day of Neuroscience class.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	10. X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forever.

As Johnny’s semester continued, his vampire friends (that was… weird to think about, but they were his friends and they were vampires, so…) had dropped out of college, Jaehyun because he was literally in hiding from hunters while Sicheng and Yuta had only done gone for Jaehyun in the first place, which is what they’d told Johnny.

He thought he might get a little lonely now that his friends had dwindled. He had Taeyong, and by extension, Ten, but he had almost forgotten about the one other human who would also be affected by the vampires’ absence.

Johnny looked up, surprised by the clatter of a cafeteria tray beside him in the booth he shared with Ten and Taeyong. Taeil wordlessly slipped into the empty seat and started to peel a banana.

Johnny blinked. “Hey?”

Taeil nodded at him, taking a bite out of the banana. Johnny looked at Taeyong across from him but his roommate shrugged.

“Hey, fourth-year,” It was Ten who got Taeil’s attention. “Watcha doing with some freshies like us?”

Taeil snorted. “What is this, high school?”

Ten squinted at him. “You feel bad.”

Johnny watched the interaction, oblivious to whatever was going on but very much interested.

Taeil said nothing.

“You feel bad because you introduced me to Jaehyun and started this whole mess.”

Oh.

Johnny turned to Taeil and tilted his head, questioning. Taeil sighed, putting the banana down on the table, hands in his lap and first looked at Ten.

"I'm sorry."

Ten shrugged, continuing to eat his meal without a care. "I would have found a different way to get what I wanted, It's not your fault."

Taeil turned to Taeyong. "I'm sorry."

Taeyong blinked, surprised. Johnny didn't think Taeil had done anything that had impacted Taeyong greatly - besides maybe bringing he and Ten even closer together. Johnny had learned Taeyong wasn't very good at hiding his liking for Ten. How Ten hadn't noticed yet, he had no idea.

"For bringing you into this mess." Taeil clarified, then turned to Johnny before Taeyong could say anything.

"I'm the most sorry to you, Johnny. For having your boyfriend locked up in a vault because he has hunters after him."

"I'm pretty sure that's my fault - not yours?" Ten interjected with a brow raise but Taeil ignored him.

It was definitely not the time to have butterflies over the fact that Taeil called Jaehyun his boyfriend, but he'd save the feeling for later. He scoffed, a smile playing at his lips. "You think Jaehyun would have told me any other way than me forcefully telling him that I know?"

Taeil paused before nodding. "You have a very good point. He's always been stubborn."

"Exactly. So I probably owe you for it anyway."

"Again," Ten raised his hand. "Pretty sure I'm the one who caused it so I don't know why Taeil's getting all the credit here when I'm the guy cursed with allergies. I mean who the fuck is allergic to vampire spit?"

Taeyong shushed him, they were in a public area, who knows who could overhear but the others chuckled.

"Would you have wanted it if you didn't see the marks on my neck and ambushed me after class?" Taeil asked.

"It's not every day you see your TA have fang marks in his neck! I thought it would be  _ hot _ \- and it  _ was _ \- sorry Johnny - but of course I just have to be from a line of hunters or some shit! My luck."

Johnny had to admit it was kind of funny, but there was a reason they did keep away from the topic most of the time. Jaehyun still wasn't able to drink from Johnny directly, as much as Johnny wanted it to happen. He never insisted of course, he understood that Jaehyun would be in danger if the hunters found him - and boy were they ever staying close to the university.

Johnny had seen them leaving his dorm floor again one week, with Taeyong complaining that those two kids - Chenle and Jisung he'd learned their names were - wouldn't let him be. Johnny had seen them hovering outside of the neuroscience class he now sat in alone with the vampires in hiding. He hoped they wouldn't think of talking to his Professor - and if they did ask for Jaehyun by name, he hoped she wouldn't point in his direction as his project partner or his deskmate.

To say he was living a little bit more tense than usual was an understatement.

"You didn't just come here to apologize though, right?" Ten continued.

Taeil shook his head, a small smile at his lips. "No one else understands."

Johnny understood, Johnny understood very well. He supposed by extension and knowing what was going on, Ten and Taeyong did too.

So Johnny found himself with another new friend. He thought he was getting pretty good at it lately.

"Ah shit, are those -" Taeyong cursed and Johnny turned his head to see the familiar short blonde and tall brunette walking in the cafeteria.

"Let's get out of here - they freak me out. I don't want to try and be recruited again." Ten grumbled so the four stood up, making their way out of the cafeteria and as far away from the young hunters as possible.  
  


 

 

 

It was nearing the end of the semester, around the beginning of exams when Johnny entered an uncharacteristically empty library, sitting at his favourite spot in the basement of the library, the spot he'd once shared with Jaehyun not that long ago.

He was writing a psychology paper he had due in a week - better to get it done as soon as possible, Jaehyun had promised him they'd spend as much time together as Johnny wanted during the winter break so he was determined to get his projects done as soon as possible.

It was in a lull between the songs on his playlist when he heard the sniffling. Johnny frowned, taking his ear buds out and listening, almost thinking he'd imagined it at first. He heard it again, usually he'd chalk it up to stressed students but he found himself rising out of his seat, following the sound of the soft crying.

He walked down the aisles until he saw him - Taeil, sitting on the ground and leaning on a bookshelf, shoulders slumped and shaking. Johnny approached slowly, siting down beside him.

They didn't speak for a while. Johnny wasn't sure what to say. They'd become friends pretty quickly from their situation but he still didn't feel like he had a good enough grasp on Taeil to know how to comfort him properly. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen the other human show so much emotion other than pure adoration for his boyfriends.

Taeil's crying slowly got quieter until his shoulders no longer shook. His back straightened, taking a deep breath before looking at Johnny and smiling. "You don't have to sit here with me."

"I want to." Johnny wanted to make sure he was okay.

"I'm fine, it's fine."

"That's a lie."

Taeil chuckled. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a while, only hearing the other breathe. It was nice, almost like meditation, only comforting. He hoped it was comforting for Taeil too at least.

When Taeil spoke again, it was as if he'd travelled the desert without water. "I don't want to live forever." He croaked, staring intently at the bookshelf in front of them.

Johnny frowned, thinking. He didn't quite get it. Why was Taeil crying over that? They were human - they didn't live forever, nobody did. Well, unless you were a vampire of course -

"Oh." Johnny hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Taeil sniffed. "I feel crazy, like I'm the only one in the world who would say no to immortality. I love them so much but I just  _ can't _ . It doesn't feel right."

"There's seven billion people in the world, Taeil. You're not the only one."

Taeil sighed. "That's true."

Johnny wasn't sure what to say. He and Jaehyun had briefly skirted over the topic before, not really talking about Johnny's mortality or the concept of forever. Jaehyun couldn't even bare the thought of drinking Johnny's blood because he thought it would hurt him in the long run, Johnny couldn't even imagine bringing up the subject of  _ forever _ with him yet.

"They didn't seem surprised either. Like this wasn't the first time I'd told them."

Johnny only listened, because that's what Taeil did when he talked about Jaehyun. Listening was easier than trying to figure out words that would help.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Johnny tilted his head. What did that have to do with it?

Taeil sighed. "Nevermind. Thanks for listening."

"Of course." Johnny paused for a moment, feeling Taeil start to get up on his feet beside him. "You know they'll respect your decision right? They love you a lot. I haven't known you guys for long but even I can see that."

Taeil smiled, his eyes finally dry. "Stop discrediting yourself, Johnny. Time doesn't mean anything to them - they have plenty of it. Knowing or being friends with someone for a long time - that doesn't matter unless you're there in the moment with them." He chuckled to himself when listening to his own words. "I guess I should listen to myself more often."

Johnny smiled back at him. "Sometimes it just feels good to get all the tears out though, right?"

Taeil nodded and shoved his hands into his jean pockets. He looked like he was about to leave but Johnny couldn't help but ask him one more thing.

"Do you think he'll ever drink?"  _ From me _ , was implied. He had whispered, in case anyone overheard.

Taeil smiled again. "He lives in the moment Johnny. He'll be ready when that moment comes."

Johnny sighed, grimacing. "I should probably wait anyway until he doesn't have kids breathing down his neck for his head on a spike."

When Johnny got up to go back to his desk he could still hear Taeil's chuckling as he left the library, hopefully in better spirits.

 

 

 

 

Johnny found most of his winter break was spent in a supernatural teen drama-esque underground vault. It sounded uncomfortable, but Jaehyun had been out of chains ever since drinking a vial of blood a week that sustained him into not becoming ‘a crazy fucking monster’ as Jaehyun put it. Johnny didn’t think Jaehyun could ever be a monster, no matter how much he tried to convince him.

They had brought in a mattress and blankets and food for Johnny and it was honestly kind of like camping, but indoors. In a vault.

He had Jaehyun all to himself and that was all that mattered. No school or goddamn hunters to get in the way for the moment. They could talk about anything and everything. The part Johnny loved the most was when he’d fall asleep with Jaehyun’s arms wrapped around him, cold but still warm because he was just so damn happy. Even if he was in a vault.

Four days into their ‘vault-cation’ as Johnny put it, Sicheng dropped a bag of supplies off to sustain them. Johnny couldn’t really risk always going to and from the vault, so he just stayed, not that he really wanted to leave either way. 

“Where are you going?” Jaehyun asked Sicheng, who seemed to be in a bit of a hurry.

“Yuta, Taeil and I are going away.” The corner of his lips tugged up into a small smile. “Have a little vacation.”

“Hope your vault is better than ours.” Johnny joked because it was really the only way to make light of his own situation. He was glad that the three were spending time together though, that Taeil’s decision didn’t end their relationship right away. He supposed it would stop when he - Ah, Johnny didn’t really want to think about that.

“Don’t do anything stupid while we’re gone.” Sicheng had waved with a giggle and Jaehyun squirmed beside Johnny, making him think that they had some sort of inside joke or something.

Johnny didn’t ask about it right away, he knew they had plenty of time, he’d find out eventually.

They found several ways to entertain themselves, to make time pass, whether it was playing cards or making out for hours until Jaehyun’s fangs slid out. Johnny noticed they were sliding out a lot more often.

“Are you hungry?” Johnny panted, breathless every time he kissed Jaehyun. They’d broken apart again, Jaehyun falling onto his side on the mattress with a groan.

“No, I’m not. I just had a vial yesterday.” He seemed frustrated. 

“Maybe you need another?” Johnny sat up, pulling the bag of supplies Sicheng had given them a few days prior and rummaging through it to find more blood vials.

“I don’t.”

“But you don’t know why they keep sliding out if you’re not hungry?”

Jaehyun sighed. “I do.”

Johnny’s hand stopped moving in the bag. He’d learned quickly that Jaehyun wasn’t used to sharing things just yet. There were still things he didn’t want Johnny to know, and Johnny was okay with it - for now. He’d gotten the important blood talk, he knew that once Jaehyun drank from him directly they’d be bonded since the vampire had already tasted his blood. He didn’t know much other than that.

“Do I taste good?” It was more of a thought accidentally spoken aloud but Johnny figured asking the question wouldn’t hurt.

He could feel Jaehyun sit up behind him, arms snaking around his waist and Jaehyun’s head resting on Johnny’s shoulder. “You taste amazing.” He inhaled. Maybe Johnny smelled good too. “Better than anything I’ve ever had in my life.”

“You’ve never tried Hot Cheetos.”

Jaehyun chuckled. “No, but I’m also not in love with Hot Cheetos.”

Johnny stilled, veins pumping. Jaehyun’s hand slid over Johnny’s chest to rest over his beating heart.

“Are you saying that because I’m in love with Hot Cheetos or because I taste better because you’re in love with me?” Johnny turned his head to the side but Jaehyun slipped away from his shoulder to press a kiss to Johnny’s nape.

“Both?” He pressed another kiss, slightly lower, sending a shiver down Johnny’s spine.

“I do love Hot Cheetos.” Johnny teased but his smirk turned into a gasp when felt a lick behind his ear. Jaehyun chuckled, low and husky as he tightened his embrace around Johnny’s chest, tapping a finger right where his heart was.

“Don’t forget I can hear what your heart does when you look at me.” He whispered, pressing another kiss behind Johnny’s ear, his lips lingering just enough to raise goosebumps on Johnny’s skin.

“How could I forget?” Johnny was taking his hand out of the bag, he was going to turn around, put his mouth on Jaehyun’s because he so badly wanted to, but his fingers felt a familiar piece of plastic and he found himself pulling out a wrapped condom in between his fingers.

Johnny knew Jaehyun knew what he’d found, his heart had reached a whole new level of throbbing because this was the bag Sicheng had dropped off for them. Jaehyun had probably asked him to put it in there, and as if to make matters worse, Jaehyun was still kissing at Johnny’s neck, slow and deliberate, breathing over his skin to make Johnny’s body react the way he wanted it to.

Johnny turned his head to the side to look at Jaehyun, eyes half lidded because there was a small fire beginning to burn at his core. “Vampires need condoms?” 

Jaehyun chuckled, meeting his gaze. “No, but I don’t know if you noticed - vampires are cold. Everywhere. That paired with warming lube will make it more comfortable.”

“You’ve thought this through.” Johnny could almost sigh in relief because Jaehyun  _ did  _ want him that way, he wasn’t just getting poor Johnny riled up for no reason the past few days. He wondered what made Jaehyun change his mind, he’d always been so adamant about being gentle with Johnny and Johnny was sure that sex with a vampire wouldn’t be gentle.

Yeah, maybe he’d thought a lot about it, but could you blame him?

Johnny’s eyes flicked down to Jaehyun’s parted lips. “What changed?”

“As much as I like to keep my resolve, I knew I’d give in to my feelings. I’m in love with you Johnny and fuck, you make me horny too.”

Johnny leaned closer, tongue darting out to wet his lips. “Is that why your fangs come out so often when we kiss?”

Jaehyun nodded, mouth hovering oh so close to Johnny’s. Johnny swore he could already see the red tint to them.

“So they come out when you’re hungry and horny. Primal - also hot.”

Jaehyun’s chuckle came out as a low rumble before pressing his lips to Johnny’s, deeper and hotter than he’d ever kissed him before. Johnny thought his heart might literally burst out of his chest it was beating so hard. 

Jaehyun easily pushed him onto his back on the mattress, thighs around Johnny’s waist and hands on either side of his head on the mattress as they kissed. Johnny could go forever but it was Jaehyun who always made sure to pull back for Johnny to catch his breath.

Johnny couldn’t stop his own thoughts from buzzing around in his head. He so badly wanted to share the human kind of intimacy with Jaehyun, almost as much as the vampire kind of intimacy. According to Jaehyun’s fangs, those two were practically synonymous. It was the thought he blurted out that almost killed the heat at his own crotch. “What about the hunters?”

Plucking the condom out of Johnny’s hand, Jaehyun held it in front of them. “I’ve been holding back, because I’m a coward. I was scared, of hurting you, of losing you. I’ll be damned if I let those two fucking kids get in the way of this. Even if I die tomorrow, it’ll be worth it.”

Johnny’s heart seemed to swell and deflate at the same time. He reached up to trail his fingers down the perfectly smooth and untarnished skin on Jaehyun’s cheeks. “You’re not dying. You and me are forever.”

Jaehyun’s eyes visibly softened, dimples apparent when he smiled. “Forever?”

Johnny nodded, hoping the immortal being understood his implication. “Forever.”

Jaehyun nosed at Johnny’s cheek before capturing their lips together again, slowly, savouring every moment. Johnny’s skin buzzed with excitement when he felt the edge of the condom wrapper get dragged up his skin as Jaehyun started pulling Johnny’s shirt over his head. Johnny tried not to whine too much when Jaehyun’s mouth moved down his jaw, placing teasing wet kisses over his neck.

Johnny took the opportunity to curl his fingers under Jaehyun’s shirt and pull it up, Jaehyun pulling back only for a second for it to go over his head. Johnny tossed it to the side, and Jaehyun placed the condom beside them on the mattress so he could concentrate on everything else.

Trailing his fingers down Jaehyun’s cold stomach muscles was surreal,  _ this was really happening _ . Johnny could already feel himself rising in his pants. Maybe he’d jacked off in the shower imagining this moment too much.

Jaehyun kissed down his chest, over his nipples, down his stomach before wrenching off Johnny’s pants with an inhuman strength that had Johnny biting into his lip he was so turned on. He was completely naked and exposed, his erection against his stomach as Jaehyun leaned in to press their bodies together. Yeah he was cold but and it made Johnny shiver, but he was so warm with emotion it didn’t bother him, wouldn’t ever bother him.

Jaehyun reached over into the bag beside them and pulled out a bottle of warming lube.

“Oh you really were thinking about this.” Johnny shivered again, thinking about Jaehyun inside him.

There was a sudden pressure at his neck and Jaehyun was licking and kissing at Johnny’s most sensitive spot, eliciting small gasps and a moan from the human.

“For a while now. I know you have too.”

Johnny gulped and Jaehyun pulled away, a smirk at his lips. “You think I haven’t memorized your heart patterns at this point?”

Johnny leaned up to kiss Jaehyun again, absolutely distraught because that was perhaps the most romantic thing he’d ever heard. He’d almost forgotten he was lying there naked until a warm, wet hand stroked teasingly over his cock. Johnny stiffened to look down and see Jaehyun had covered his hand in the warming lube, successfully shrouding his cold nature.

“Fuck.” Johnny shivered as Jaehyun slid a finger down, down until it teasingly traced his hole. “ _ Fuck _ , of course you’re a  _ tease _ .”

Jaehyun chuckled and leaned to whisper in Johnny’s ear. “It’s been over a century since I’ve let myself be intimate with anyone. I’m going to savour this. Savour you, in more ways than one.”

That got Johnny moaning, and savour him Jaehyun did. He was so painfully slow with everything, the fingers going in and out of Johnny’s entrance, his kisses, even the way he trailed his other hand down Johnny’s skin was slow and Johnny thought he might go absolutely batshit crazy.

He’d once thought about if Jaehyun’s dick would even work, if vampires could even have sex but Johnny was delighted when Jaehyun finally took his pants off and he got to relish in the sight of the definitely erect cock of his vampire boyfriend.

“At least you still get to feel pleasure.” Johnny breathed as he wrapped his own hand around Jaehyun’s dick, the other groaning at the sensation. He helped him roll the condom over it. The only thing he wished for was being able to feel each other’s natural warmth.

“Thank god.” Jaehyun sighed, lining up his cock to Johnny’s entrance. He pressed a small kiss to Johnny’s nose. “Tell me if anything hurts.” He whispered.

Johnny smiled. “What if I want it to?”

Jaehyun shook his head, kissing him fully on the lips as he finally pushed in, Johnny gasping into his mouth from the overload of sensations. He gripped his arms around Jaehyun’s shoulders, knowing that no matter how hard he pulled at him or scratched him, he would never hurt Jaehyun. Not that he wanted to, it was so relieving to not have to worry about his own large body and knocking into people. But Jaehyun wasn’t ordinary of course, and Johnny wouldn’t have it any other way.

Johnny gasped when Jaehyun started to rock into him, his groans decorating Johnny’s neck as he tucked his face into his shoulder.

“Fuck Jaehyun, fuck, fuck,  _ fuck _ .”

It wasn’t ideal, on a mattress in a vault because they were in hiding but it was everything and more to Johnny. He gripped Jaehyun’s shoulders tightly as the vampire found his sweet spot, repeatedly hitting it and Johnny could feel himself building and building.

It didn’t help when Jaehyun pulled his face away from Johnny’s shoulder to reveal his red eyes and incisors, Johnny really felt like he might ascend into the heavens.

Jaehyun slowed his pace only so he could get Johnny to concentrate. “Can I?” 

Johnny nodded frantically. “Fucking bite me.”

He’d once worried about being allergic too, like Ten, but after doing extensive research with Taeil on vampire hunter bloodlines he came to the satisfying that there was less than a one percent chance he would have an allergic reaction, and if he did, well fuck it, it was worth it.

He thought Jaehyun might chuckle but perhaps the vampire was just as desperate for it as he was. Jaehyun licked Johnny’s neck and his thrusts got faster and faster until Johnny felt it, the sinking of fangs into his skin, the sharp prick of pain overloaded by pleasure. His back arched and his vision went white as he came, Jaehyun’s hips fucking him through it as the vampire drank from him.

Jaehyun thrust one last time into Johnny as he sucked on his neck, licking up every last drop, panting because he too, was overwhelmed.

Johnny felt the sweat at his brow, his eyes lidded because suddenly he was so fucking tired but so fucking happy. His hand weakly reached up to cup Jaehyun’s face, guiding him down to his lips, not caring that he could taste his own blood in Jaehyun’s mouth.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun’s voice shook, perhaps worried.

“Holy shit.” Johnny sighed. “I’m more than just okay.”

Jaehyun couldn’t contain his giggle as he nosed over Johnny’s cheek and gave Johnny’s wound one last lick.

“Are  _ you _ okay?” 

Jaehyun smiled at him, looking more alive than Johnny had ever seen. “Even better.”

Johnny whined when Jaehyun slowly pulled out, cleaning up the blood and other fluids with a spare set of sheets Sicheng had brought them.

“Sicheng’s not gonna kill us when he has to bring that out right?” Johnny only had the strength for one more joke as he curled into a ball on the mattress, pulling the blanket over him.

Jaehyun chuckled. “I can’t make any promises.”

Johnny fell asleep with a smile on his face.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the last !! Sorry for everyone who's been waiting so patiently for me and thank you <333
> 
> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


	11. XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We all live forever one way or another."

Jaehyun worried at his bottom lip.

He’d put Johnny in danger because of his own selfish needs.

Jaehyun shook his head. He couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t turn it around to be a bad thing like he was used to doing. This was… a good thing. For the first time in centuries Jaehyun found someone to be intimate with, that he wanted… wanted to spend forever with, someone who wanted spend forever with him too.

He just couldn’t shake the feeling of dread prickling at the back of his neck, warning him of something but he didn’t quite understand what it was.

There were a lot of things he didn’t quite understand – new things. Jaehyun didn’t have a beating heart, not for hundreds of years and he could hear Johnny’s plain as day as he slept soundly in Jaehyun’s arms but it was different now – Jaehyun could _feel_ it.

It had been the first time he’d drank from Johnny directly, he’d had his blood before but there hadn’t been that mutual connection, teeth in skin. It was supposed to happen gradually over time, multiple feedings. This felt different than the other times.

He gazed down at Johnny, the way his eyes fluttered in his sleep and how he’d curl his giant body into a ball.

Maybe it was different when there was love involved.

No one ever told him that – Sicheng and Yuta certainly didn’t, though they’d always been vague about their connection to Taeil over the years. But it made sense, the Jaehyun of then would have never dared to even let himself become the Jaehyun of now if he knew.

The Jaehyun of now, who lounged in a vault, hiding from hunters with a human by his side that he’d drank from. He could feel it in his chest, the ghost of a heartbeat that belonged to the human he loved.

He and Johnny were connected now in a way Jaehyun had never thought would happen to him. He’d made a lot of mistakes in his long life but Johnny was not one of them, would never be one of them.

Though he didn’t realize locking himself up in a vault where he couldn’t hear the outside world was a mistake until he heard the footsteps, too light to be Sicheng or Yuta, or for some human to come stumbling in.

No, they were cautious footsteps, knowing exactly what they were heading down towards.

Jaehyun leaned down and pressed his lips to the small marks his teeth had left in Johnny’s skin, closing his eyes and treasuring the moment for as long as he possibly could.

He’d put Johnny in danger.

“I’m sorry,” Jaehyun whispered so only Johnny could hear, even though he was asleep. “This might hurt a little.”

 

 

 

 

Johnny woke up to a ringing in his ears and a sharp pain in his shoulder. He blinked his eyes open a couple of times before scrambling and making sure he was still covered in blankets - he wasn't on the mattress anymore - a couch? When did he get outside of the vault? Why was he still naked and god why was Sicheng, Yuta and Taeil staring down at him?

"What the fuck."

"Good morning to you too." Yuta wasn't smiling but it sounded like a joke. Sort of. He didn't seem very happy or amused at all.

"You're up." Jaehyun was suddenly beside him on the couch, looking rather spooked for a guy who wasn't alive. "How’re you feeling?"

"Confused?" Johnny couldn't help but yawn, looking around to try and figure out where he was. He didn't recognize it at all, it looked like a home but it certainly wasn't the vampires'. "Where are we?"

"Taeil's apartment." It suddenly occurred to Johnny that Taeil didn't live with the vampires and he had his own place to stay. "I brought you here this morning."

"Why?" The last thing Johnny could remember was - he tried taking a deep breath to calm his heartbeat already starting to speed up at the thought of it. _Oh they really did that last night_.

"The hunters," Jaehyun whispered, letting his fingers caress the side of Johnny's face. He looked so, so worried, Johnny wanted to kiss it all away, that type of emotion didn't belong on Jaehyun's face. He'd do that when he didn't have the others watching. "They found us, found the vault - I don't know how but I just - I had to get you out of there."

Johnny tried sitting up, to get a better grasp on things but he quickly fell back down, head spinning.

"You'll feel dizzy for a little bit." Sicheng's voice was quiet, he seemed deep in thought. "Humans aren't equipped to travel at the speed Jaehyun took you."

So that explained the ringing in his ears. It didn't give him an answer for the pain in his shoulder though. Johnny looked down to see a thin red line the length of his pinky finger on his shoulder. It took him a second to realize it was a cut.

"Did you knock me against something?" Johnny chuckled but Jaehyun only looked somber. That wasn't the reaction he was trying for.

"One of the hunters got you on the way by." Jaehyun closed his eyes, pained. "They have a sample of your blood. Even more if they take it from the mattress in the vault." He exhaled loudly and looked away from Johnny, as if it was almost too much to bear. "Fuck."

Johnny half remembered all the stuff about the hunters Jaehyun had told him, about tracking, everything, but he'd just woken up after travelling at goddamn lightspeed and he couldn't remember a thing.

"They can track you," Taeil seemed to catch on, explaining. "And they can track Jaehyun through his saliva in your blood. It'll be a lot easier for them."

"Then we run," It sort of just spilled out of Johnny's mouth, and the way Jaehyun snapped his head to look at him didn't really help. "We run until they give up."

"Johnny..." Jaehyun looked sad, almost torn. "You're not giving up your life for this."

"I'm not giving up anything which means I'm certainly not giving up you."

"Johnny, your family, your schooling... I won't let you just - throw it away."

"I'm not." Johnny insisted. He lifted a hand to hold Jaehyun's cold marble cheek in his palm, caressing the skin gently with his thumb. "My family is halfway across the world - they don't need to know just yet and I can go back to school later. You know we have forever now, right?"

Johnny didn't let himself even think about the words that entered his mind automatically. _Not if the hunters find us first._

"Do you think," Yuta was the one to interrupt their little moment, Johnny only just remembering that they were still there. "That if Johnny was one of us then they wouldn't be able to track him?"

"They'd still have a sample of Jaehyun's saliva though, they can still find him." Sicheng responded, arms crossed.

"But Johnny would be safe." Jaehyun whispered and Johnny knew exactly what he was thinking, and he was having none of it.

"If you're thinking that I'm just going to let you turn me and then leave me Jaehyun I will hunt you faster than those hunters ever could."

Yuta snorted.

"I'm counting on it." Jaehyun smiled, pulling Johnny's hand up to his face to press a kiss into his palm. "Now let's get you some breakfast - and some clothes - and we'll talk about what we do next, okay?"

"I have an idea." Taeil added in as he left to go find his baggiest pieces of clothing that Johnny might fit into. "It might work."

 

 

 

 

  
It was the last time Johnny would step into his dorm, he knew that, he just wished he hadn't of walked in while Taeyong and Ten were making out half naked on Taeyong's bed, but there really wasn't another time for it.

"J-Johnny." Taeyong tried scrambling away with wide eyes when he saw him enter.

"I mean... If that's what you're into." Ten had his back to Johnny, not realizing.

Johnny coughed and Ten turned around, a _'why the fuck are you here can you get the fuck out please'_ look on his face. "Oh. Hey Johnny."

"Hey. Sorry I won't be long - just need to get my things." He grabbed his backpack and started to shove anything he deemed worthy into it.

He didn't think anyone would be in their dorm but he remembered the next semester would be starting soon and people were beginning to come back to campus. He hadn't really thought about saying goodbye to his friends, he'd been a little... occupied. But disappearing without an explanation didn't really seem like a good friend thing to do either.

"Where are you going?" Johnny could see Taeyong attempting to push Ten away from kissing his neck, definitely not wanting to continue with Johnny in the room.

"Away." Was Johnny's reply. "Far away."

A beat of silence before Taeyong replied. "And you're not coming back."

Johnny slowly stopped shoving things into his bag and sighed, his back towards the two. "No."

This seemed to finally get Ten to stop trying to neck Taeyong. "Are you... Is he... Is he gonna turn you?"

"Yeah, I mean - not right now at least, we're gonna run as far as we can - well, he can," Johnny turned towards his friends and grimaced a little, thinking about how his ears were still kind of ringing. "And we're gonna take my blood again, like last time - so he can live off it for a couple of months after he turns me. The hunters have his saliva so if he feeds from anyone they can track it but if he has my old blood after I've turned - we're hoping to just... Outrun them. Outlast them."

And when Johnny was a vampire he'd definitely be able to outrun and outlast them.

"I - wow... well I'll miss you, Johnny. Maybe visit if you ever can? Before I turn sixty at least." Taeyong smiled a little, they hadn't been the best of friends but Johnny would always remember the good times with his roommate once they finally started to get along. He'd miss him too.

Ten looked thoughtful. "I mean... I don't know if it'll help but I'll try to get them to stop or something. It's not fair that they stopped bothering me but are still going after Jaehyun. I'll try something on my end."

Johnny felt the corners of his lips pull up. "Thanks, Ten."

Ten shrugged. "Don't mention it, you just gotta come back and tell me about how your first time was." He raised a brow in the direction of Johnny's neck, where there was sure to be two dots on his neck. Johnny felt the blush rise to his cheeks as he (unwillingly) agreed.

He hugged both of them before walking out of his dorm room backwards, backpack on one shoulder, taking in the sight. Maybe he would see it again one day, but for now, he was going to keep it in the corner of his mind and maybe a part of his heart, a nice little warm memory.

 

 

 

 

"We have enough?" Johnny panted.

"Yeah, we have enough."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Johnny stretched his head back on the bed, exposing his neck.

Jaehyun sighed into a chuckle, fingers tracing over Johnny's facial features all the way to his jawline until he got to his neck. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Jaehyun leaned down and kissed the spot he knew Johnny liked the most on his neck. His incisors slid out and then he sank them into Johnny's skin, holding him tightly as Johnny arched into him and off the bed, a moan at his lips.

And Jaehyun began to drink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He'd had many names over the years, over his span of lifetimes. But there was no name that gave him as much comfort as his first one, Yoonoh. It was nice to go back to it after so long, though he did wonder if he'd ever be able go by Jaehyun ever again. Maybe not any time soon.

It felt good to be in a classroom again too, a huge lecture hall with long tables and a giant projector screen at the front. Yoonoh smiled to himself, almost grinning. He wasn't quite ready to try for that Artificial Intelligence degree yet, but he'd decide he'd finish what he started and try his hand at a Neuroscience degree again. He doubted that there could be anything quite like before that could make him stop this time.

It was a new school, a new city, and yet Yoonoh still found himself feeling comforted by a familiar type of setting. There was only one thing missing.

He found the perfect spot, near the middle of the class all the way at the end of the row so there was only one seat beside him.

He was rather early to class, so he waited, playing games on his phone that he'd recently started to get into. He had to admit, it was a lot more fun than just, waiting. He still hadn't gotten out of the habit of writing in a paper notebook though, that he couldn't quite give up.

Students slowly started filling in all at once, taking the seats they'd be sitting in for the rest of the semester (hopefully, if people kept to the unspoken unassigned assigned seats rule). Yoonoh smiled to himself when he heard the footsteps that stopped right next to him, slipping into the seat beside Yoonoh's.

"Hi."

Yoonoh continued smiling but didn't answer.

There was a sigh. "You really want to do this the exact way it happened? I have to wait until next class for you to actually respond to me?"

Yoonoh laughed loudly, some students turning their heads to look. He quieted down to a snicker and reached over to hold the student's hand. "Sorry Youngho."

Youngho pouted. "You didn't even let me introduce myself."

"There's always next time."

Yoonoh thought Youngho fit his name well, more than the others he'd tried. Maybe it was the way it complemented his own like it did in their previous lifetime, Jaehyun and Johnny, Yoonoh and Youngho.

"You know pretty soon there won't be any more notebooks for you to write in. I still can't believe you think you'll be able to adapt when you're already so far behind." Youngho tsked, taking out his laptop from his bag.

"You wound me."

In secret, Winwin had been teaching Yoonoh how to use a tablet like a notebook. It was similar, but not quite the same, and while Yoonoh constantly argued that Winwin was not a real name, the other vampire argued it was _his_ name and he was going to use it no matter what Yoonoh thought.

Yuta was either more sensible or less, Yoonoh couldn't decide. He was already back to his original name again, though the only change he'd made was changing his last name from Nakamoto to a simple Moon. He did it at least every second lifetime.

"Do you think we'll have an advantage since we've done this class before?" Youngho pursed his lips as they watched the professor start preparing his things at the front of the class.

"I never finished this course, but you'll probably have an advantage."

Youngho clicked his tongue. "I don't think so, it's been literal years. Decades."

Some more students filed in and the professor cleared his throat to begin class.

"Good morning everyone, my name is Xiao Dejun, and welcome to Neuroscience One-thousand-and-one."

"Hey, Yoonoh." Youngho whispered soft enough only Yoonoh could hear. Yoonoh turned towards him to find that Youngho was leaning away in order for him to get a look at the human that had sat down beside Youngho.

Yoonoh smiled to himself and looked back towards the front of the class.

"I almost didn't believe them when they told me," Youngho murmured. "But now that I see it with my own eyes, _wow_."

"We all live forever one way or another."

"Aren't you going to text Winwin?"

Yoonoh disguised his chuckle with a cough. "Do you want Yuta to come slamming in here and make a scene? Trust me," He turned again to look at the human beside Youngho, a face he'd seen reincarnated over many years. "Seeing their eyes light up when they see him for the first time again, it's moving. You'll always hope it's the last time they have to introduce themselves."

Youngho frowned at the sadness he must have felt in the past through Yoonoh's thoughts. A human and vampire connection was strong but once the human turned vampire? Even stronger.

But then Youngho smiled. "But it's like you said - We all live forever one way or another. They'll have Taeil for eternity this way."

Yoonoh nodded. While a little sad, Yoonoh knew that if it was what Youngho had wanted way back then, when his name was Johnny, he'd be delighted to fall in love with him all over in every of his lifetimes.

While feeding was still a challenge for him - would always be a challenge for Yoonoh, having someone beside him helped. He'd gotten close once, close to how he'd been before, but now he had Youngho's encouraging kisses and words.

"Only twelve people a year - twelve willing people a year out of how many? Eight billion? Living doesn't have to be bad, not if we do some good too."

He was just grateful Youngho had never seen him eat bricks.

In this lifetime, Yoonoh decided he wanted to be a doctor. Was being around blood dangerous? To an extent, but he wouldn't let himself get to where he was before, not again. He'd be helping people, giving back as small as it was for what he had to take to live among the living.

"I wonder if someone ingested only Hot Cheetos for a day or two, would their blood taste like it a little?"

Youngho on the other hand, had different ideas for his medical career.

Yoonoh sighed. "How many times are we going to go over this? You have to do this in class?”

Youngho pouted. "I miss Hot Cheetos."

Shaking his head with a smile on his face, Yoonoh realized he'd already missed the professor's first few slides of his lecture. "Amazing, you're beside me one day and I'm already behind." He hissed playfully.

"He's literally only going over the syllabus you prude. Let me reminisce about my favourite snack."

"Can't believe I agreed to forever with you."

Youngho flashed a grin, letting one of his incisors slide out for a second before retracting it and finally paying attention to the class. "You love me."

"I do."

When class finished and the two student vampires walked through campus, Youngho mentioned a party he'd heard about on the weekend.

"Winwin and Yuta can come with us and we can make sure new Taeil goes! Wouldn't that be exciting?"

"Yes but you know how I feel about -"

"Yeah, yeah, don't accept drinks from strangers, don't leave them unattended - blah blah this doesn't apply to me anymore since I'm literally a v- _you know_. Not all parties are bad parties Yoonoh. We'll keep an eye on new Taeil."

Yoonoh chuckled to himself, lacing his fingers with Youngho's as they continued their walk through campus. It had been a long time since he'd been to a party.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so,,, thanks to everyone who stuck by me with this,, even when i took forever to update ;; i appreciate every single one of u who made it this far and thanks for giving my fic a shot <33 had a lot of ups and downs with this one but i rly will miss my dumb vamps,, anyway thanks for reading !!
> 
> [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/jokheiz)
> 
> [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.me/jokheiz)


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